JAPAN: The Mitsubishi Bank Heist 1979: 42 Hours of Terror 2021 -
On a cold winter afternoon a young man walked into an unsuspecting Osaka bank and set in motion what was to become one of the most bizarre robbery attempts of all time. This is the true strange case of the Mitsubishi bank heist. The Mitsubishi Bank Heist 1979: 42 Hours of Terror, 2021
The robber [Akiyoshi Umekawa] angrily shouted to the bank employees, ‘Get the money out! Get it out or I’ll kill you! Count 1,000,000 yen at a time and get out 50,000,000!’ and threw the red rucksack over the counter. ibid.
The robber shot him [teller] with buckshot in the face and the neck thus ending his life. ibid.
320 police officers surrounded the building and closed off road within a 50 metre radius. ibid.
Now there were 39 hostages (& 5 concealed). ibid.
The robber forced all women to be naked and made them sit on top of desks. ibid.
This man had a violent crime-ridden past and unbelievably this bank robbery was not the first time Akiyoshi committed murder. ibid.
He was shot three times at very close range. ibid.
4 men died including 2 officers in the line of duty. ibid.
NETHERLANDS: Scam City TV -
A fake cop – robbery with a clever twist. Scam City s2e4: Amsterdam, National Geographic 2014
NORWAY: Art of the Heist TV -
The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is one of the most famous and powerful images in art history. In the past twelve years it’s been the target of thieves not once but twice. Art of the Heist s1e4: The Search for the Scream, 2006
One version stolen in 1994 was recovered. But a decade later another Scream vanished when thieves walked into the Munch Museum in Oslo and ripped it from the walls along with a second masterpiece The Madonna. ibid.
August 22 2004 ... Two men got out and ran towards the entrance of the museum ... They brutally snatched them from the walls. ibid.
PERU: Art of the Heist TV -
In 1987 a 1,500-year-old archaeological site in the Peruvian desert was looted almost to extinction. The site is called La Mina because it is the burial place of the Lord of La Mina, the ruler of an ancient sect known as Moche. Its looting was possibly the worst desecration of a Peruvian archaeological site since the arrival of the Spanish five hundred years ago. Art of the Heist s2e7: Trail of the Moche Gold, 2007
They took priceless objects: ceramic figures and bowls; most valuable of all was a superb gold headdress. It shows the face of a sea-god. ibid.
Mocha rulers were buried in state, the mummified body surrounded by a store of artefacts. At the centre the ruler’s golden headdress. ibid.
RUSSIA: David Reynolds TV - Olly Steads Nazi Treasure TV -
His [Stalin’s] speciality was bank robberies ... Here was a gangsta. A street thug. David Reynolds, World War Two: 1941 and the Man of Steel, BBC 2012
Hitler’s ruthless SS: masters of destruction and plunder. Their biggest heist was the amber room. It is the greatest piece of missing art in the world, and if found could be worth a quarter of a billion dollars. Could the amber room still exist? Mystery Investigator: Olly Steeds: Nazi Treasure, Discovery 2010
It took them [the Nazis] just two weeks to reach Leningrad. But in what appeared to be a well-planned operation they headed straight to seize the amber room. It took them just thirty-six hours to dismantle, and to pack it in twenty-six wooden crates and ship it to Konigsberg. With a German curator in charge the stolen panels were reassembled and put on display in Konigsberg Castle ... Not a single trace of amber was ever found. ibid.
SOUTH AFRICA: Masterminds TV - Misha Glenny -
He pulled off the most daring crime spree in South African history. A top cop turns into the country’s most celebrated criminal. Masterminds: The Stander Gang, History 2005
1983 ... The Trust Bank: three strange-looking men walked in cool as ice; it was a hold-up. ibid.
As police gathered clues at the Trust Bank they were completely unaware that a second bank robbery was taking place just a few streets over. And there was more to come: as police raced to the second robbery yet a third was being committed just around the corner. As they arrived too late for the third, around the corner was a fourth. Authorities had never seen anything like it before. And this was just the beginning. In one summer the gang hit over twenty banks. ibid.
He started hating everything the police stood for. So, as authorities continued to suppress the blacks, Stander secretly began fleecing the whites. ibid.
In August 1980 Andre Stander was found guilty of twenty-eight charges. ibid.
The whole gang was now out and on the run. ibid.
They prepared for the biggest crime spree South Africa had ever seen. ibid.
Stander lunged for his pistol. But it was hopeless. He was shot three times. He died instantly. ibid.
It was an amazing story, amazing part of South African criminal history. ibid. Mike Cohen, biographer
By the late 1990s, some 15,000 cars and 5,000 vans and trucks were hijacked annually in South Africa, while another 100,000 were stolen while unattended. Misha Glenny, McMafia
SWEDEN: Art of the Heist TV - Inside the Heist TV -
In September 2005, Alexander Lindgren, Baha Kadhum and Dieya Kadhum were arrested in a police sting operation to recover a stolen painting. All three have since had their convictions overturned by Sweden’s Supreme Court. Art of the Heist s1e6: The Big Sting, opening text, 2006
On December 22nd 2000 three of the world’s greatest art treasures were stolen from the National Museum in Stockholm. Together the Rembrandt and two Renoir paintings were valued at $50,000,000. ibid.
At five minutes to five, just as the museum is closing, three thieves armed with a sub-machine gun and two pistols burst into the gallery. They force the museum’s security staff and the remaining terrified visitors to the floor. ibid.
They have been in the gallery less than a minute. ibid.
They make for the jetty and their awaiting boat. ibid.
Two car fires occurred near the museum at the same time as the robbery. ibid.