$11.5 million worth of gold stolen from the Caribbean Island of Curacao

Armed gunmen, dressed as the police, stealing gold bars from a fishing boat, on a Dutch Caribbean Island; sounds like the latest in ‘The Adventures of Tintin’. It is, however, not a fictional cartoon, but rather a real event that happened on the island of Curacao, last Saturday.

Seventy gold bars, weighing 216 kg, were stolen from the boat, which was reportedly delivering the bullion from Guyana, at the north-eastern tip of South America, as the ship docked on the island of Curacao. The overall value of the gold has been estimated at $11.5 million dollars, which although of course an incredibly large sum of money, falls a long way short of some of the biggest gold heists in history.

Indeed, most of the largest gold heists have been carried out in politically unstable countries during civil or international conflict.  Indeed one of the largest ‘disappearances’ of gold came after the fall of the Nazi regime in Germany, when $3.36 Billion worth of gold went ‘missing’ from a private Swiss bank account. Large raids have also been made on banks during the various wars in Iraq and too in Palestine. 

The UK’s largest heist came back in 1983, when 4 gunmen broke into the Brinks Mat Warehouse, with the intention of stealing £3 million in cash.  Instead, however, they came across gold bullion worth an estimated £26 million and made off with the UK’s biggest ever haul. Although all four robbers eventually were arrested and imprisoned, still to this day three tonnes of the gold remains unaccounted for.

What makes gold such an appealing heist?

Throughout history, there have been many tales of gold theft and still today it seems to be as popular as ever, but why?

First of all, in Saturday’s case, it is thought that the gold was being illegally smuggled out of Guyana in a bid to avoid paying taxes. It is this illegal transportation of physical bullion that makes it a target for criminal gangs. It is very rare these days that such a large amount of cash would be transported in such an unofficial manner, and thus gold remains an attractive prospect.

Additionally, gold can be melted down and transformed into a vast array of different products; from jewellery to dental fillings, coins and ornaments, making it easier to use after the theft.  These days it is easier to track down cash once it has been stolen as it often contains unique codes, and thus hauls of the size of the Curacao gold robbery will rarely be attempted.

Gold holds its value

The other major draw that gold has to robbers is that it is renowned for maintaining its value.  This is too what makes it very popular with investors and why many governments choose to keep a large percentage of their wealth in gold reserves. 

It is seemingly immune to political, economic and social issues, and thus the global economic crash has further highlighted its worth.

As gold is often purchased as a luxury item or gift, many people also invest in gold without even really considering it as such. This makes gold a perfect luxury as its relative value in currency can be retained at any time.

Trading your gold for cash

Indeed, the rise of internet traders has increased the ease at which one can realise this transfer, and thus gold is regularly traded, in order to assist finances. Especially with a large proportion of global currencies faltering, the relative gold value has too increased, and thus people are seeing the cash equivalent as a much more attractive option to holding on to their old gold. 

With Christmas fast approaching, it is prime time for people to get rid of some of the old gold that they no longer want, and in doing so help to boost their Christmas budget. Simply by visiting an online trader, such as www.247cashforgold.co.uk today, you can get a quote for any gold that you have in your possession, and if satisfied trade away instantly. 

Liquid gold in the form of detergent

So, gold may seem like an obvious target, but in other news, ‘Tide’ detergent has bizarrely become the latest must steal product within the US criminal underground, with it apparently being used as an exchange commodity on the black market. 

Such is the scale of the current mass detergent theft, that it has even led police to label the product as ‘liquid gold’.  It has been targeted due to its universal demand, relatively high price and lack of serial numbers. Who would have thought that a cleaning detergent could rather be used as dirty money?

About the author: Bill runs and maintains 247cashforgold.co.uk and pays more for gold than H. Samuel, Tesco and WH Smiths.