Chile Airport Heist Goes Horribly Wrong: Two Dead in Attempted $32.5m Robbery

A fight broke out when armed men tried to steal a large shipment of cash at the Santiago airport.

In Chile, there was a shootout after a man tried to steal millions of dollars from an airport. The man who wanted to steal and a security guard both died.

Chile Airport Heist Goes Horribly Wrong Two Dead in Attempted $32.5m Robbery

The mistake happened at the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in the capital city of Santiago on Wednesday morning. As airport workers took $32.5 million in cash off a plane, 10 and 12 thieves attacked.

“A LATAM plane from Miami brought in valuable cargo that was supposed to be taken by the Brinks [security] company. The suspects then rushed into the area and were chased away by security officials,” said Eduardo Baeza, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation.

In recent years, organized crime has been a problem in Chile, and the airport has been a target. In 2017, a group of armed people stole about $18 million, and three years later, they stole $15 million from an armored truck similarly.

Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve told reporters on Wednesday that security officers had a shootout with the robbers, stopping a “highly organized, highly armed, and probably very well-planned robbery.”

The police said that one of the attackers and a security guard at the airport both died.

Monsalve told the news media that the thieves tied up a security guard and drove three cars into the airport. According to AFP, the thieves broke through a gate and went to the cargo area, where they hoped to catch the $32.5 million before it was moved locally.

When security officers confronted the armed men, they reportedly ran away and set fire to two vehicles on a nearby highway. The people who did it are still being looked for.

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