Colombians captured for 'Heist of the Century' scheme in Venezuela

Venezuelan authorities captured a "multinational gang" in the state of Barinas, which was allegedly involved in bank robberies. The modus operandi of those arrested was to rent hotels and houses in different states of the country for long periods of time, according to local media on Tuesday.

The criminal gang had rented a house behind a financial institution in Barinas to dig a tunnel to the Banco Nacional de Credito, some 300 meters away. The target was the bank's vault, as in the other robberies that inspired series such as "The Heist of the Century."

In the operation, which was carried out on Saturday, four Venezuelans and four Colombians—Erminson Romero Rayo, José Orlando Gelves Espinel, Orlando José Romero Cerquera and Carlos Enrique Platillo Flores—were caught. All suspects were over 50 years of age, the same as in the series mentioned earlier, where the personified robbers were close to the third age. However, in this case, the robbers were not so far from the fiction.

Police were able to thwart the plan after following several leads on the gang from previous similar robberies.

Venezuela's Minister of Interior and Justice, Remilgo Ceballos, said that the alleged criminals were part of a transnational network. They planned the robberies in advance and calculated all the details: the materials to be used, the electrical energy needed for the drills, and other metal cutting equipment.

The minister said on his Twitter account that after "arduous work," the officers of the Scientific, Criminal, and Penal Investigations Corps (CICP) of the Caribbean country "dismantled" this "transnational gang" dedicated to bank robbery.

Douglas Rico, director of the Scientific Investigations Corps, said that the alleged criminals "came to the country to do this work as moles, they opened these tunnels until they reached the vaults" to then "steal the money during the weekend."

"When people show up on Mondays, they see that everything they left behind was empty," he added.

Security forces located the gang about 18 meters deep within the tunnel.

The bank's vaults, like many others worldwide, would have seismic sensors, as well as infrared sensors, according to Joel García, a lawyer and expert in this type of security, as explained to Noticias Caracol.

"They didn't know what bank security really is: bank vaults have seismic sensors, infrared sensors, in addition to the combination," he said.

Robbing a bank in Venezuela may sound more surreal than you might think, reported Infobae, considering that the bolivar is currently one of the world's most devalued currencies.

The minimum wage in Venezuela is around 126 bolivars, about 28 U.S. dollars, according to an increase that Nicolás Maduro himself promised to make in March of this year.

Vale destacar que los sujetos, fueron capturados al momento que
utilizaban un taladro para perforar el suelo, ubicado debajo de la bóveda del Banco Nacional De Crédito Barinas, procediendo a la detención en flagrancia y puestos a orden de la justicia. pic.twitter.com/RqhjeCHthZ

— @FuerzaDinamica Remigio Ceballos Ichaso (@CeballosIchaso1) April 30, 2022