Two people have been killed in an attempted heist of more than N14.7bn ($32m) in cash aboard a plane from Miami in Chile.
Chile’s Interior Sub-secretary Manuel Monsalve confirmed the incident that occurred on Wednesday, March 8, 2203.
According to him, about 10 heavily armed robbers were able to scale security barriers to get to the runway at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, where a Latam airlines plane had $32.5 million in cash that was being transferred to an armored truck.
While other assailants fled, a security official who was an employee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, DGAC, as well as an alleged assailant died in the shootout.
It was also revealed that two burned vehicles were later found nearby the incident.
“The brave action by the DGAC officials frustrated the robbery,” Monsalve said, noting that the would-be robbers were “highly organized” and “very armed.”
Video posted on social media appeared to show bullet holes in a Delta plane that was parked next to the Latam aircraft that was targeted. Another video appears to show a moment in the shootout during which a lot of gunshots can be heard.
“There was no risk to passengers,” DGAC chief Raúl Jorquera said.
The attempted heist targeted the $32.5 million that were set to be transferred to an armored truck to then be distributed to several banks in the South American country.
The attempted robbery “will undoubtedly lead us to revise processes, protocols that must be improved … it forces us to rethink many things,” Jorquera said.
This was not the first time the airport in Chile’s capital was targeted. In 2020, thieves stole some $15 million from a warehouse in the airport, six years after a similar $10 million heist.
President Gabriel Boric bemoaned the latest heist during a speech Wednesday in which he said that “when there’s insecurity, everything else wobbles.”
An increase in violent crime has contributed to a recent decline in Boric’s approval ratings, according to polls.
