An armed group of seven stole €1 million ($1.2 million) and $14 million in cash from an armored truck at Santiago International Airport in Chile, police sources confirmed. (Image: illustration). The heist was immediately dabbed the “robbery of the century”. Investigation presumes the robbers had inside information about shipments of cash to Chile via Arturo Merino Benitez Airport 18 km from the city center.

The robbers, armed with guns, arrived in the airport’s cargo area in two vehicles and ambushed the truck, threatening the two security guards inside, according to police. The guards were injured in the heist, but there is not further information about them.

The armed group successfully escaped police pursuit, taking advantage of neglect to patrolling the roads outside the capital, caused by concentration of police at mass demonstrations, and ongoing civil unrest.

The heist is regarded as one of the biggest in the country’s history. In 2017, a cash shipment of $19 million was stolen from the offices of a transport company just outside the Chilean capital. Santiago Airport was also the target of a similar raid in 2014 worth $10 million, a heist that became known locally as the “theft of the country.”