SAO PAULO—Armed men stole $40 million of gold and other precious metals on Thursday, July 25, from a Sao Paulo cargo terminal at South America’s busiest airport, taking two hostages, police said.
Several of the suspects arrived at the Guarulhos airport in a black pickup truck with livery resembling Brazil’s federal police, according to security footage seen by Reuters.
Eight armed men steal $40 million worth of gold and other precious metals from the international airport in Brazil’s Sao Paulo city pic.twitter.com/bRvfuwL8dH
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) July 26, 2019
Four men left the vehicle with their faces covered, at least one of whom had a rifle, and confronted workers at the airport, who then proceeded to fill up the pickup truck with cargo.
A police report said the thieves left with about 750 kg (1,650 lbs) of gold and other precious metals, along with two airport workers taken as hostages, and remained at large.
An airport spokeswoman said no one was hurt during the assault, but did not comment on potential hostages.
The airport is operated by GRU Airport, a consortium that includes Invepar, Airports Company South Africa, and state airport operator Infraero.
According to Brazil’s Federal Highway Police, the thieves may have had access to internal information about airport operations.
In April this year, armed robbers stole a large cash haul from Albania’s Tirana International Airport, seizing money destined for Vienna from an Austrian Airlines plane. One of the gunmen was shot to death during a police chase, while a further four were arrested.
By Leonardo Benassatto and Marcelo Rochabrun
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
