- A daring plot to steal bullion from vaults beneath the
collapsed World Trade Centre has been revealed by police as workers removed
gold and silver valued at $452 million.
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- Scorch marks around the basement door to the vaults suggested
thieves had tried to break in to steal the precious metals, belonging to
the Bank of Nova Scotia.
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- The bank denied there was any heist attempt, but police
insisted that at some time during the past fortnight, a blowtorch and
crowbar had been used on the vault's entrance. After the discovery, a
video camera was set up to monitor the area.
Given the difficulty of getting on to the site and down to the vault, it
is suspected the attempt was an inside job.
Hundreds of construction and relief workers are working on the World Trade
Centre site.
The bullion was not the only valuable hoard buried beneath the twin towers.
There were also caches of drugs seized by federal agents, boxes of FBI
evidence - and thousands of Godiva chocolates.
Extreme secrecy has surrounded the operation to protect and remove the
contents of the vaults. Most of those who used the basement for storage
have kept quiet for fear of encouraging burglars.
The World Trade Centre's basement lay 70 feet underground, roughly a quarter
of a mile below the top floors of the Twin Towers when they still stood.
The basement area's square footage is almost twice that contained in the
entire Empire State Building.
Earlier during the rescue and recovery effort, the Drug Enforcement Agency
spirited away millions of dollars worth of seized drugs which they stored
there.
The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, however, said it is yet to
recover two evidence vaults, including an armoury of illegally held guns,
which may affect scores of criminal cases.
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