Two dead in failed Chile airport heist

Michael Andisile Mayalo|Published 1 year ago

Police officers walk near a Delta Air Lines plane on the tarmac of the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago on March 8, 2023, after an attempted robbery of more than $32 million from an armoured van which had just picked the money from a Latam Airline plane arriving from Miami. Picture: Karin POZO / AFP

Santiago - An aviation worker and a would-be robber died in a shootout on Wednesday during a failed heist at the international airport in Santiago, Chile, officials said.

About a dozen armed robbers struck as workers were transferring $32.5 million in cash into an armoured truck at the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport.

"Valuable cargo arrived on a Latam airline plane from Miami which was to be taken by the Brinks (security) company, at which point the subjects burst into the area and were repelled by security officials," said prosecutor Eduardo Baeza, who is in charge of the investigation.

Forensic police officers inspect vehicles burnt by individuals near Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago after an attempted robbery of more than $32 million from an armoured van which had just picked the money from a Latam Airline plane arriving from Miami. Picture: Karin Pozo / AFP

The robbers had entered the airport in three vehicles in the early morning, broke through a gate and headed for the cargo area.

A shootout ensued with security officials claiming the lives of one of the intruders and an employee of the civil aviation directorate.

Thwarted, the rest of the robbers fled and set fire to two of their vehicles on a highway nearby.

A manhunt was under way.

The airport has been targeted before: an armed group made off with more than $18 million in a similar robbery in 2017, followed three years later by $15 million in a single haul from a armored truck.

AFP