Why We All Dream of Being Jewel Thieves

>> Their estimated take was anywhere from £14 million worth of gemstones and cash to a truly eye-popping £200 million. Some of the booty was later found buried under a headstone, but only about one-third of the stolen goods have so far been recovered.

There are some allegations floating around that some victims might have exaggerated the amount of their loss. I'd be very interested to hear whether any insurance fraud investigations are ongoing (attempted fraud). Perhaps that 1/3 is 1/3 of the reported theft, but most all of the actual theft. In such a case, the over-reporting "victims" would have attempted a greater crime than the actual thieves.

The BBC report the OP mentions is highly interesting:

"One reporter for the BBC even taught himself basic climbing skills and familiarized himself with a specific make of concrete drill in order to reenact the heist."

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32431557

Particularly interesting is the video in which he drills in 2 hours and 20 minutes the exact same hole that the thieves drilled -- a hole that police and other reporters claimed to have taken all night and possibly a second day.

I wish more reporters were this enterprising with their fact checking and in doing a bit of their own original research.

What an awesome submarine for Hilti tools. Hilti tools make a corporate comeback, apparently.

The real appeal of skilled heisters is that their work is entirely about skill.

A thief must be good at his job, assuming he gets away with it. He must be clever, deft, nimble, witty. He must make a plan, lead his team of bandits, and do so effectively even if the plan changes. In short, he's one step from being a hero, and that one step is easily waved away by those of us who love to hate the rich (and who doesn't want to be Robin Hood?).