Samsung Factory Robbed Off Millions Of Dollars' Worth Of Tablets, Phones And Laptops
Samsung just suffered a massive heist that sounds like something plucked straight from a movie script. But it had nothing to do with Hollywood, and now the company is missing USD6 million worth of products.
By Sadho Ram — 10 Jul 2014, 12:58 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
In the early hours of Monday, a daring robbery at a Samsung factory in Campinas took place, where a group of about 20 men armed with sub-machine guns had field day
Samsung products on display. A factory in Brazil has been looted by thieves who carried away 40,000 mobile phones and computers.
Image via guim.co.ukAccording to the Associated Press, over 20 robbers took part in the carefully orchestrated theft carried out late Monday night at a Samsung factory in Brazil. The group hijacked a company bus and made their way towards the plant, capturing eight employees along the way.
theguardian.com
After stealing each worker's ID badge, the heavily armed thieves took two of them along as hostages.
theverge.com
The armed gang spent hours loading an enormous haul of cellphones, laptops and tablets onto a fleet of trucks, which then split off in different directions
They forced their way into the facility, subdued Samsung's security guards, and spent over three hours filling up trucks with Samsung-branded phones, laptops, and other electronics. And we're not talking just one or two trucks.
washingtonpost.comThe band of thieves managed to load over 40,000 devices into seven trucks before pulling away into the night. No workers were hurt during the ordeal, though several were forced to turn over their phones to prevent any calls to police.
theverge.com
"They carried it off in approximately seven trucks and left the place with 40,000 products," a spokesman for Campinas police told The Washington Post by telephone
Local media said $36 million worth of merchandise was stolen, based on preliminary reports. Samsung said Monday night that $6.3 million in goods were stolen and that just 50 employees were held.
washingtonpost.comLocal media said nobody was hurt during the robbery. TV Globo had CCTV images of the gang members, their faces hidden under hats and behind glasses, roaming the factory and loading crates onto trucks. Security guards had their weapons confiscated but, with a certain poetic irony, had been left guarding their positions.
techtimes.com
They appeared to have entered the factory with remarkable ease
Police said the robbers hijacked a van carrying eight employees to work. They took an analyst and the driver of the van hostage. “They hijacked the van and entered the company with the van,” the police spokesman said.
bgr.com
Once inside, the gang split up and took control of employees
Police said they were armed with rifles but did not harm anyone. On the contrary, they seemed remarkably polite. One employee who was working in the factory canteen told TV Globo that his first inkling that something was wrong was when workers did not turn up for their meal. When the thieves loomed in a corridor outside, they told him to remain calm and took his cellphone battery.
washingtonpost.comSamsung said in a statement: "We are very worried about this incident"
"We are fully cooperating with the ongoing police investigation, and we will do our best to prevent this happening again. Fortunately nobody was hurt."
theverge.com
Police said the scale of the theft indicated thieves had insider help
Campinas is known for its industrial parks where technology companies such as General Electric, Hewlett Packard and Dell have established some of their operations. But what is often called the Brazilian Silicon Valley has also seen a spike in cargo thefts – from 425 in 2012, to 657 in 2013.
theguardian.com
A Samsung spokeswoman would not comment on a November report in the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that said a cargo of Samsung cellphones had been stolen on a Campinas highway amid a wave of robberies. The newspaper said the area had become known as the "Bermuda Triangle" because of the robberies of electronic goods. It added that most of the cellphones were later recovered.
washingtonpost.com