How a drone stole 150,000 euros from a French bank

Drones can have all kinds of uses. Used to transport emergency treatments or to plant trees, they are also used for espionage or war purposes. A recent incident in Reims has meanwhile allowed burglars to attack a bank.

France 3 Great East reports that these four criminals targeted a cash dispenser on Monday, May 2. That day, the local police found that 150,000 euros had been stolen from the adjoining technical room.

“We had never experienced this before”

So how did the burglars do it? In just ten minutes, they managed to get their drone through a broken air vent to sneak inside the relay box, a room where cash couriers deposit money for banks.

The rest is very technical and it is told to us by our colleagues from the public service: “ A drone passes through the broken vent, and allows a button controlling the opening of the door to be pressed: it seems to have been located the old fashioned way, via a telescopic pole mounted with a mirror. »

Criminals then only have to enter the building and enter the code for the relay box. The latter would have been provided to them by an accomplice who worked for the bank. They were then able to steal the 150,000 euros.

If this plan seems perfectly run. Things did not end well for them. We have indeed learned that two people were arrested last July and have been placed in detention. These two suspects are between 30 and 40 years old and are not known to the police.

Anyway, the authorities take this matter very seriously because it reveals a new use of this technology. During a press conference organized this Sunday, Matthieu Bourrette, the public prosecutor in Reims, explained: ” This modus operandi is original, extremely innovative, but also disturbing. It uses a new flight model. This drone was used to neutralize certain security means. We had never experienced this before. »