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AP
The "Summer Bliss" fishing boat sits docked at the Willemstad port in Curacao, on Nov. 30. Masked men in jackets emblazoned with the word "police" boarded the "Summer Bliss" in an early morning assault on Friday and stole 70 gold bars worth an estimated $11.5 million, police spokesman Reggie Huggins said.
Masked men in jackets emblazoned with the word "police" boarded a fishing boat Friday in Curacao and stole 70 gold bars worth an estimated $11.5 million, officials in the southern Caribbean island said.
The boat's captain was struck in the head in the early-morning assault before the thieves made off with the gold in three cars, police spokesman Reggie Huggins said. Authorities believe there were at least six men involved in the heist. No suspects were in custody.
Huggins declined to say who owned the approximately 476 pounds of gold but he said it was a legal shipment that was being trans-shipped through Curacao and officials in the island had been advised in advance that it was coming as part of normal security protocols. He declined to disclose the eventual destination of the metal.
"Authorities knew of the shipment because the official procedure was followed," the spokesman said.
Huggins said that guards to the port area let the assailants inside a restricted area in the mistaken belief that they were customs officials. The men's jackets had the word "police" in English but in Curacao the word would be written in Papiamento, one of the island's three official languages, as "polis." During the robbery, crew members said they wore hoods and masks and made off with the gold in a matter of minutes.
"The crew said it was like a movie operation, very fast," Huggins said.
The captain and three crew members were from the South American country of Guyana, he said.
The boat, by its appearance, would seem an unlikely place to stash that amount of gold. The "Summer Bliss" is a fishing boat with rust streaks on its white cabin and no visible security.
A crew member who gave his name as Raymond Emmanuel told The Associated Press that they left Guyana four days ago and arrived early Friday in Curacao. Contradicting police, he said they were delivering the gold to a company in Curacao but said he did not know the name of the business.
He referred questions about the source of the gold to the captain, who was meeting with authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island and was not immediately available.
Emmanuel said the gold was locked away when the thieves boarded the vessel. "They took everything," he said.
The crew member said neither he nor anyone else on the vessel was armed. "This is normal," he said. "We never carry arms. Since I started working here, I've transported gold once before, and this is the system."
Colin Sparman, executive secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, said legal shipments are typically made by air under heavy security. But gold smuggling is common to avoid taxes and royalty payments on the precious metal.
Curacao, just north of Venezuela, is primarily known as tourist destination, particularly for divers. It is also an offshore financial center, especially for people from South America.
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Leave a Comment:
That gold probably belongs to Mitt Romney. Of course, now that it has been 'stolen' he doesn't need to declare it on next year's taxes.
Uggh, move on already. ;-)
There's something fishy about this story.
ARRRRRR is pirates I say! Ya swung down on the Futtock shrouds an tooks ye gold...
How much you want to bet that mathuin's comment isn't far off?
I mean -- probably not Mitt Romney -- but some corporatist securing an offshore tax shelter...
In that case it might be a Robin Hood gesture, or it might be greed, or it might even be a staged event!
Loose lips.
Yep. A crewman bragged to the wrong person.
Yup. That's how I would transport 11 mil in gold bars. A rusty fishing boat at a public dock, announce it to the authorities, and then guard it with the fishingboat captain and crew. Whomever it belonged to must be a real brain trust.....
Definetly an inside job. And, EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT.
Funny story. Officials were notified in advance - they were in on it. Guards in port area let the thieves in - they were in on it. Curacao is a financial center, where smuggling of precious metals is common. Looks like South American drug profits being transferred on the sly - one cartel ripping off another, with some officials, guards, and crew members all getting a little taste.
Hopefully it's Mitt's gold.
Hopefully you'll move on someday.
Dude.....get a life!
If I had that much gold, I wouldn't put it on a rusty, dilapidated fishing boat crewed by sleeping, unarmed sailors. It sort of goes without saying.
Nice thieves. They didn't kill anyone to get their 11 mil.
I read every word of the posting by Northeast Vick here. Very interesting. Since media is becoming less and less informative, it is up to bloggers to get the word out on timely topics.
Good call and great post by Vick.
Monsato seems just as bad as G.E.
If they were wearing Police jackets, and the police had been notified, kind of sounds like the police were involved in the theft. It's and island this transpired on, correct? It's not like there is going to be a getaway car... just another boat further down the harbor ramp, to load it on to, and transport somewhere else. That would be quite a bit of weight for an average vehicle to move. Maybe it's headed to Spain with other treasure from The New World.
476 lbs is not allot of weight. Two full grown men weigh that much.
So...they were moving drug money and someone took it. What's the crime in that?
Well, the article did mention it was a legal shipment....
@ Steve Herbert-The gold weighed 476 lbs, the theives had three cars. Not much of a problem.
476 lbs has to be a typo. that would mean each bar only weighed 6.8 pounds, which has to be in accurate. a standard gold bar (400 troy ounces) weighs around 27 pounds. unless these were mini-bars....
TTerry...Three cars maybe to transport the gold to another boat. Islands have a serious drawback when it comes to cars, unless you like driving in circles. Also, it's not like you can go to the island pawn shop with this gold. In a circular road, you can set up one road block and get them coming and going... and who would allow a car to pass a roadblock... the police. Even if the gold weighed 476 pounds, have you ever ran on a sandy beach with 50 pounds on your back, let alone 100. Let's say each guy could carry 50 pounds over distance, you're looking at 9 guys carrying 50, and one guy carrying 26. It takes three cars to carry the personal and their weight in treasure. Let's say the guys averaged 200 lbs. apiece That's a ton of humanity you have to transport, besides the 475 pounds of gold, so roughly 2,500 lbs. It's easier to move that kind of weight with a boat, take it to another port location, divvy up the prize, and go from there. Since there should be some other port authority (police) to pay off to accomplish this scheme, both where it was stolen, and where it was landed, again you could suspect police involvement in this theft. Police jackets, police notification of gold movement, police roadblocks or lack thereof, port authority boat movements... If the police weren't involved in the theft, they need some serious training upgrades.
Pretty stupid if you ask me.
officials in the island had been advised in advance that it was coming
DUH - it obviously was an inside job.
Hey Pedro did you hear that next week 100 bars of gold worth 100 million are coming through the country on an empty fishing boat with no security?
Clearly, after the failed attempt by the 1% and Mitt and Adelson to get Romney elected to steal more money, he had to break open one of his smaller piggy banks to cover some expenses. Probably to pay the doctors that are going to cure him after his asx whipping. [Can you see me, a member of the middle class, smiling?].
You seem pretty stupid. If you ask me.
I was thinking that while reading and wondering why so much gold was on an unguarded fishing boat. An interesting way to hide in plain sight though which is probably why the "guards" didn't have weapons because that would look out of the ordinary for a fishing crew. They could have had some weapons stashed though but it was only a few million on this shipment.
No Birdman. We can be pretty heavily armed and you would never know, but would you shoot someone with POLICE on their shirt?
You know what's fascinating about gold bars? Unless it was virgin gold direct from current mining operations, the gold we buy and sell, the jewelry we wear, the coins we collect all have stolen gold in them back to the beginning of when gold had value.
Pirates stole it, grave robbers dug it up, people killed for it throughout the millenia and countless coins, jewelry and artifacts were melted and made into new items which were again melted and made into even newer items sometime in the future.
And I wouldn't be surprised if even gold from current mining operations might be tainted with stolen gold. What a place to launder the stuff! Just dump it in the smelter and process it along with the new ore.
Man's fascination with this metal has been the stuff of romance, intrigue, tribute, tragedy and death for as long as human history has been recorded.
As for this story, it is just one more episode for the gold contained in those bars. Maybe even the boat captain, since he was only knocked on the head and not killed, had a hand in it. Who knows?
It's not loose lips, it's an inside job. Perfect access, police credentials, perfect knowledge, etc. It may well be customs officials and cops who pulled it off.
Talks like an inside job, walks like an inside job, smells like an inside job.... Guess what??
sounds like The Italian Job (2003)...
"Fishing boat", right..... They use the gold bars for net weights.
Inside job
Who's to say anyone ever came on board. They could have just dumped it in the ocean and will go get it after the dust settles.
Nice I wish I was in on this one. I would have brought in Kramer,Slipery Pete, Shlowmo, and George it would have been just like the Frogger caper
Could the Dems and the WH be so desparate to tax the rich and get revenue that they would go this far?
LOL!
I know exactly who pulled off this heist---- Goldfinger is at it again. Blowfeld's man, "Top Job", left his Bowler in one of the getaway cars with Pussy-Galore, an accomplice.
Bond was on the case, but passed-out from too many Martini's - (Shaken - NOT Stirred) in M's Aston Martin the night before the heist took place.
Oh well, You only live ONCE ----
It was the Leprachaun just getting back what was his.
Twelve million in gold and no armed escort? Stupid has a new definition.