back to article Vacuum-wielding thieves siphon €500,000 from store safes

Thieves armed with little more than a drill and a powerful vacuum cleaner siphoned £60,000 out of a supermarket safe in France in what police said is the 15th such heist against the same store chain. The burglars have made off with €500,000 by exploiting a flaw in the security system of Monoprix, the chain that has been …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    When movies become reality...

    1963... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123282/usercomments

  2. Martin Lyne

    title

    Suckers!

  3. Kurgan
    Thumb Up

    WIN!

    These thieves are geniuses!

    1. Stoneshop

      Under pressure

      They're certainly not airheads

  4. Haku
    Happy

    Finally...

    ...something for Henry to truly smile about.

  5. Gangsta
    Joke

    Henry

    I wondered why Henry seems to be throwing money around recently!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    That sucks!

    I'm going, I'm going...

    1. Scorchio!!
      Paris Hilton

      Indeed

      and as we all know, mean people suck, nice people blow.

      I'm on my way out as well.

      Paris because she sucks and seems to be well paid for her 'labours'.

  7. Andus McCoatover

    Priceless!

    I'm in no way endorsing criminality, but their ingenuity was superb.

    However, I'm sure only an insider would know about the money transport system. In England many years ago, in one department store I remember being pushed to in my pushchair, I was fascinated by these transparent vacuum tubes from every till, going up to accounts, the change money popping back in a cylinder a few moments later. Died out 30 years or so ago.

    Surprisingly, I saw them 5 years ago on my last trip to USA, in a petrol station in Irving, TX. (West McArthur Blvd, if memory serves).

    I guess I know they weren't using a Dyson.

    After all, "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux....."

    http://258marketing.wordpress.com/2008/02/27/bad-ads-nothing-sucks-like-an-electrolux/

    1. raving angry loony

      transport

      No need for an insider. The pneumatic tubes are obvious to anyone who cares to look. After the first one, I'm guessing they realized the flaw, and I'm guessing that the accountant whose budget the fix would come from isn't the same accountant who is getting screwed by the thefts, he doesn't care to spend the money to fix the problem.

    2. Fr Barry
      Thumb Up

      Sadly

      Sadly I must be much older than you as I remember one shop in Southend (Soapers) which had the precursor system comprising wires running all over the ceiling back to the central cash desk. I was always fascinated by it when we went in. Money and bill was put into a container and coupled up to the transporter and then sent whizzing off to the cash desk. These "cash railways" are described at http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/index.htm

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And still they got a truly rotten exchange rate

    by my reckoning €500k should be worth in excess of £400k...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Read it again.

      They have taken more than €500k over 15 heists. THIS time they took £60K.

  9. Dave Wray
    Happy

    Blimey!

    The pound is strong today!

  10. Hedley Phillips

    Slow learners

    15th such heist against the same store chain... that has been targeted since 2006.

    They have had 4 years to improve their security. Seems a bit lax to me.

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge
      IT Angle

      Slow learners ?

      What do you mean slow? They've only had 4 years. On the other hand Microsoft....

      OK I'm getting me coat

  11. Anonymous John
    Happy

    You do the take and vac

    and bring the money back,.

  12. David Martin
    WTF?

    WTF???

    500K lost and they still haven't installed a simple anti-syphon valve??

  13. This post has been deleted by its author

  14. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Stop

    @ Andus McCoatover

    The system didn't die out. it's still very much in use in an number of high street supermarket chains.

    1. Slartybardfast

      Tescos for one

      See title

      1. Anonymous John

        And

        Sainsbuggers.

    2. Stoneshop

      Still in use

      But most of the systems I see today don't use pods. Usually there's a slot into which the checkout clerk can slip bills, and apparently those travel through the tubes just like that. With pods you would have to modify the tubes in a way that the entire pod could be diverted without jamming, but loose bills are much less restrictive that way.

    3. Andus McCoatover

      Thanks for the update..

      Didn't realise they were still going, since I last (apart from USA) threw my toys out of the pram at them...

      Never seen them anywhere in Finland, however. Nor cheques, but that's another story...

  15. Stevie

    Bah!

    Commence Operation: Vacu-Suck!

    1. CD001

      Aaaah

      If it was Operation Vacu-Suck then the key to the safe would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - so they'd not need the drill/hoover combo ;)

      1. George of the Jungle
        Coat

        Wow!

        That's the same combination as my luggage!

  16. b166er

    IIRC

    A bloke was lifted for doing similar in a UK store.

    He had noticed that the tubes route passed over the toilet block and would lock himself in the disabled toilet and climb through the ceiling tiles to get access to the tube. Then he was somehow able to intercept the pods.

    1. Mr_flib

      I remember that one...

      I think the guy your thinking of was working on the stores IT upgrade at the time and had access to the tube plans.

      If I recall he was only caught as he got greedy on one visit.

  17. Lghost
    WTF?

    re ..IIRC

    that entire post read like a series of elaborate euphemisms..

    right innuenedo ..

    the mind simply boggles

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    talk about exploiting...

    ...a security hole...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    I wondered...

    ...what Richard Dyson had planned for his retirement.

  20. Magani
    Coat

    A new meaning?

    Boy, did they get sucked off...

    OK, I'm going.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Small potatoes

    The ones who PRINT the money , now there's the problem.

  22. JaitcH
    WTF?

    Who else but a Inspector Cluzot could ...

    take this long to solve identical series of crimes.

    They are not the only store using these air transport systems, either in Europe or North America.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    I surely can't be as easy to fix

    as putting a simple flap on the end of the pie, you know, the sort you get for a tumble drier for about £5?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    I assume this chain has a branch in the capital

    and that would be the second reason to use the icon for this story.

  25. Steve 13
    WTF?

    one way valve

    Why have they not addressed this in four years, surely it's as simple as putting a one way valve (or several) into the system. Try to suck from the wrong place and you get nothing.

  26. Tim Elphick
    Grenade

    I don't follow...

    How does drilling a hole in the vacuum tube help? And how do I- Sorry, I mean they get the money out?

  27. Stoneshop

    The Hoover Heist.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123282/

  28. chris 130
    Flame

    Must be a Dyson then

    cos anyones whos ever bought a real Hoover will know it just ain't possible

  29. Luiz Abdala
    Coat

    The best to do with that kind of money??

    Blow it, of course!

    I will buy a new coat when I get to Monaco.

  30. Harry
    Happy

    Re "I was fascinated by these transparent vacuum tubes"

    You would have been even more impressed by some of the stores circa 1957. The Co-Op I think was one of them.

    Instead of vacuum tubes, they had a gravity-fed system involving brass tracks running round the store. Sales staff had no tills at all, and buying every item big or small involved the sales person putting money into a pod, pinging that pod up the vertical section of the brass track using something like a rocket launcher, watching it glide slowly down the nearly-horizontal section of the track to the cashier's office, waiting five minutes (it seemed like ages) then watching the receipt be pinged back via the opposite track.

    Somewhat inefficient by today's standards, but much more fun to watch.

  31. This post has been deleted by its author

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