bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

A gang of robbers cut a hole in the roof of a train travelling through southern India and stole more than US$750,000 in cash, police said on Wednesday.
The daring heist occurred somewhere along the more than 300km long journey, but the missing loot was only discovered hours after the express train arrived in the city of Chennai.
The train’s mail carriage was carrying 3.4 billion rupees (US$51 million) belonging to India’s central bank and was being escorted by armed police seated in the next compartment.

Police suspect about six to eight robbers made a four-foot square hole in the carriage roof using a cutting torch before escaping undetected with some of the cash.
“We are inquiring with the train guard and the police personnel if they heard any unusual noises on the roof,” said police superintendent P Vijayakumar.
Police said the robbers may have jumped off the train roof and were combing the tracks along the route in search of any of the missing notes.

“They created a manhole and then they sneaked one after the other and lifted the bundles to the roof before taking them away,” inspector general of police M. Ramasubramani, who is heading the investigation, said.
Another police officer was quoted in the Hindu newspaper as saying the gang might have hidden themselves in the carriage before it was locked for the journey on Monday night, before escaping through the roof.
Reserve Bank of India officials discovered the theft on Tuesday morning when they came to collect the cash from the carriage for disposal. The cash, although still usable, was soiled and was transported from the city of Salem to Chennai for destruction.
The audacious crime has echoes of the “Great Train Robbery” of 1963 when a gang of criminals in Britain stopped a night mail train and made off with £2.6 million (HK$23.6 million).


Great Indian train robbery? Gang cuts hole in moving train’s roof in US$750,000 heist

An Indian worker removes a case containing Indian currency from the Salem-Chennai Express train, which was robbed while in transit, at Egmore Railway station in Chennai on August 9, 2016. Photo: Reuters

Indian police personnel stand guard alongside the Salem-Chennai Express train, which was robbed while in transit, at Egmore Railway station in Chennai on August 9, 2016. Some 50,000,000 INR, equivilent to approximately 749,000 USD, has been stolen from a moving train as it was being transported to the Reserve Bank of India, police said. / AFP PHOTO / ARUN SANKAR

A video grab showing the hole thieves cut in the roof of a train in India, before escaping with US$750,000

News

Asia

South Asia