Police in Sao Paulo have foiled the world’s biggest bank robbery after discovering a well constructed 500-metre tunnel, complete with lighting, ventilation and rail tracks, leading from a rented house to the vaults of the Bank of Brazil.

The thieves hoped to steal up to £250 million, police said, and had planned to carry out the raid this weekend. Several bullet-proof cars, suspected of having been prepared as getaway vehicles, have been impounded as part of the police operation.

“This would have been the biggest bank robbery in the world,” chief investigator Fabio Pinheiro Lopes told the Guardian.

“They are an extremely dangerous and organised gang with a long history, including some violent crimes like homicide. If you look at their ages most are above 35 – well above the age of your average Brazilian criminal,” he added.

The gang are understood to have invested at least £750,000 to fund the construction of the tunnel and other logistics. Among the arrested is a woman who used a false name to rent the house where the tunnel began.

Suspicions were aroused when police in the run-down north of the city were alerted to the construction of an unusually luxurious house. It turned out to be the gang’s temporary headquarters. Undercover officers rented a neighbouring building and monitored communications and movements.
Police say the gang’s leader was Alceu Ceu Gomes Nogueira, 35. He is also suspected of having been involved in an attack on cash deposits in Paraguay in April, when nearly £10 million was stolen and a police officer was killed in a long gun battle. Sao Paulo police said that he had told them he worked as a farmer, and had no connection with the robbery.

Local media reported that Nogueira is heavily involved with a notorious gang called the PCC (First Command of the Capital). It is believed that Nogueira commanded a prison riot in 2006 at the behest of the PCC, the same year the gang mounted a series of bloody attacks which brought São Paulo to its knees.

Another alleged accomplice is Marcos Paulo Chini, 44. He was serving a jail sentence in the northern state of Maranhao after being convicted for his part in a bank robbery in 2015. In May this year he disappeared while he was temporarily released for a Mother’s Day visit.

Twelve of the other 14 people arrested have previous convictions, including murder, robbery, drug trafficking, and illegal possession of weapons.

The tunnel was high enough for a person to stand inside, and supported with metal and wooden beams. Rail tracks had been laid to transport the banknotes. Police said that they had also seized construction materials and workers’ clothes that were scattered throughout the area. Frozen food to provide for a large team of labourers was discovered.

Had the plot succeeded, it would have dwarfed Brazil’s previous biggest heist, when thieves made off with 3.5 tonnes of cash, worth £35 million, from a regional office of the Brazilian central bank in the city of Fortaleza in 2005. On that occasion, a tunnel was also built from a rented home near by. Police have yet to ascertain whether the two operations are connected.

Alceu Ceu Gomes Nogueira being led away by the Police

Handcuffed suspects lying on the ground after their arrest. The tunnel was excavated by hand, with earth and rock loaded into sacks and carried to an underground storm drain

Brazilian police discovered a tunnel linking a house to the Banco do Brasil’s safe in the city of São Paulo

O boy! Men dey para oo

No joy, zero joy from the criminals. They really planned well but it failed before they began

I'm telling u

Ibinu boys......I comot cap for una

nothing comes cheap, you have to work hard and invest, that's some hard work those boys put in there plus almost £1m investment. And someone out there reading this thinks life is easy, are u willing to bleed out of your eyes for your dreams? the answer is NO, cos u are full of sh#!

Yeah!!!!! These are boys; I mean thieves not the mumu ones we have here in Nigeria

World biggest o.
If na for 9ja, ordinary boys with knockout will rob bank n u see our P them on d run, some removing their uniform, i dnt know if they re telling us that they dnt want to do agn by tht.
Well, nobody should come n kill himself.
Dem no dey carry govt work for head mentality.
But theres hope. We will get there someday.


When i read Nogueira, i tot it was Nigeria. Hahaha
Devil no see us this time, devil put hand for barb wire.
Nawa o. oyibo robbery na high tech.
Police ppl try sha.

I need one of them to teach me this method, I go tunnel from my house enter NSPM.

I was there live... It was a boring show but am back to Nigeria now

Nawao.

Them never come here

Wow... these guys are something else, congrats to the Brazilian police for saving the nation from such a potential downturn in the economy... Godbless Brazil... Godbless Nigeria and the rest of the world... #PEACE...

Thank God developers no rep us here.

Same scenario with the central bank of Fortaleza which was robbed through an underground tunnel. This robbers tho, you've got to Give it to them. Their mastery is wow.

I love this

Where they bleeped up was when they went to construct luxurious apartment in the not so luxurious neighbourhood. Bad belle people dey. Them for do all their tins low key by constructing an unassuming pangolo crib.

Anyways what I'm I saying. No to robbery especially if you're not ready for this saga

So people pass us(9ja) for this kind thing?

But i dont understand, something similar to this had happened in Brazil and they werent caught, this ones are not sharp or maybe the police are now smarter. Its once bitten twice shy

cool

Hardworking robbers were not allowed to reap the fruits of their labors....diaris God o

Wow! People are hustling

This is what we call Advance Criminology 001. No be the hungry ones wey deh dis country.

in Nigeria, it would hv been busted if its in an area with people.
reasons being that Nigerians are very very nosey, and they will sell u out if they see the slightest chance.
how do u build a 500metre tunnel and rail tracks ? unless say na from bush. if not, people go talk am

with all these Bloggers around, everybody d find d slightest news to carry blow

Too good for 'em to fail.

nice one

naija robbers hear am ...... they invested £750,000.

not just come and be shooting innocent people !!!!

u will snatch a car and use it to go rob bank

can't stop watching this movie THE HEAT

A won eleyi...won bad gan!