The scene of one of the thefts

A gang of thieves may have used a ruse by calling police away to investigate a house robbery so that the thieves could rob other targets.

That part of their theft, however, was the only part of their work that was subtle.

It was about 3:00 in the morning when the thieves began their work in the island town of Ilhabela, Brazil.

They arrived by speedboat.

They weren’t understaffed – twenty criminals sped around the island.

At first they tried to break into a business. When that failed – because the owner had installed security bars – they broke into five ATMs.

They got to the money by blowing up the ATMs with explosives.

During their operation, they also blocked access to downtown with a vehicle, kidnapped a police officer and beat him, and shot a hotel security guard.

They accomplished all of this in 20 minutes, and escaped with $110,000 worth of Brazilian reais.

This is the third time the town has been attacked from the sea.

– Criminosos explodem caixas e roubam R$ 220 mil em Ilhabela (SP), Folha (Portuguese>>
– Brazilian ‘Pirates’ Score $110,000 Booty By Blowing Up ATMs, Worldcrunch>>