Mystery of ‘lawn businessman’ who organised world’s biggest bank heist

The tunnel built by Paulo Sergio and his gang of thieves who robbed Banco Central do Brasil in August 2005.

To date, police in Brazil only know him as Paulo Sergio. For years, Sergio has remained elusive as chances of ever finding him and bringing him to book get slimmer with each passing day. His was a well-choreographed robbery – probably the most intelligently executed – that left Banco Central (Brazil’s equivalent of Kenya’s Central Bank) over Sh6 billion poorer.

It was in early August 2005 when it emerged that thieves had broken into the bank’s vault and stolen a record amount of money. The astonishing part, though, was that the thieves carried out the heist undetected and without triggering any of the bank’s alarm systems.