4 ms·

Why We All Dream of Being Jewel Thieves

31 points by nols 11y ago

jedmeyers 11y ago
What an awesome submarine for Hilti tools. Hilti tools make a corporate comeback, apparently.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  I have a Hilti driller that my granddad already owned. Must be decades old by now. Destroying a Hilti is next to impossible even if you drive over it with an excavator...
- Animats 11y ago
  Right. A few years ago I had to drill through concrete-filled cinderblock to run a conduit, using a rented masonry drill. The tool wasn't really up to the job. Now I know what to rent.
- chiph 11y ago
  Hilti is worth the money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetVGrMfAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetVGrMfAY (NSFW)
- 756745678946578 11y ago
  Submarine for Hilti? No, rather it seems like much more clearly an advertisement for the author's upcoming book, which has recently been mentioned in a disproportionately large amount of HN stories/comments.
sandworm101 11y ago
>> 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.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
cantrevealname 11y ago
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 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.
dawnbreez 11y ago
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?).

31 points by nols 11y ago

jedmeyers 11y ago

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

mschuster91 11y ago
I have a Hilti driller that my granddad already owned. Must be decades old by now. Destroying a Hilti is next to impossible even if you drive over it with an excavator...
Animats 11y ago
Right. A few years ago I had to drill through concrete-filled cinderblock to run a conduit, using a rented masonry drill. The tool wasn't really up to the job. Now I know what to rent.
chiph 11y ago
Hilti is worth the money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetVGrMfAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetVGrMfAY (NSFW)
756745678946578 11y ago
Submarine for Hilti? No, rather it seems like much more clearly an advertisement for the author's upcoming book, which has recently been mentioned in a disproportionately large amount of HN stories/comments.

sandworm101 11y ago

>> 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.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

cantrevealname 11y ago

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 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.

dawnbreez 11y ago

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?).