On Easter Sunday, someone managed to access the GardaWorld cash storage facility in Sylmar and steal a whopping $30 million in what is considered the largest heist in Lost Angeles history.
Canadian security company GardaWorld offers cash storage and transportation services, ensuring that clients’ money is kept safe until it can be used or deposited in a bank. Such storage facilities are among the best-guarded places in the world, featuring dozens of guards, alarms, seismic motion detectors, and state-of-the-art surveillance, making would-be thieves think twice before attempting a heist. And yet, in what can only be described as a perfect script for an Ocean’s Eleven-style blockbuster, someone recently managed to breach a cash storage facility in Sylmar and disappear with up to $30 million in cash without anyone even noticing until a day later.
Photo: Brock Wegner/Unsplash
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are currently investigating the GardaWorld heist that occurred on Easter Sunday, but according to several sources, they are still trying to figure out how someone could pull it off. Gaining access to a cash storage complex like the one in Sylmar is one thing, but navigating the premises without setting off any alarms, opening the safe without leaving a trace, and getting away with tens of millions of dollars requires preparation, skill, and information.
“This took a tremendous amount of research and tremendous amount of knowledge on the technical end regarding the circumvention of security systems and surveillance, Randy Sutton, a former police detective with experience investigating high-end burglaries, told the Associated Press. “You can bet that not just current employees of that organization are going to be scrutinized, but prior employees as well.”
The problem is, so far, no one seems to even know how the thieves entered the GardaWorld facility. Initial reports claimed that they entered through the roof, while subsequent coverage mentioned tunneling through the side of the building. Air footage did show a section of the building boarded up, although it is not clear if the damage occurred before or after the heist.
Getting away with $30 million in cash is a challenge in itself. The weight of $1 million in $100 bills alone is about 22 pounds (10 kilograms), but if it was in various denominations, that weight could reach 250 pounds (115 kilograms). That means the $30 million could have weighed 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilograms), so carrying it out of the facility without drawing attention is nothing short of impressive.
“It’s an interesting question: How do you get rid of that amount of cash?” Sutton said. “I know it’s a quandary we’d all like to have, but the reality is these criminals probably had that in their repertoire.”
Experts believe that because the stolen money likely comes from businesses, and not from the treasury, it will be virtually impossible to trace.
“Because it’s cash from so many different sources, there’s no way to know what those serial numbers were, no way to know, to keep an eye out for where this surfaces,” Scott Selby, an LA-based attorney and expert on heists, told NBC Los Angeles.
Right now, investigators are hoping that whoever carried out this seemingly perfect heist of monumental proportions will be less thorough when trying to launder or spend the cash.
