Brazilian police have arrested two people in connection with one of the biggest bank heists in world history, while Banco Central said it now believed that US$71.6 million were stolen.
After police announced the arrests and the recovery of part of the money Thursday, the bank said 164.8 million reals (US$71.6 million), and not 156 million (US$68 million), were taken during the weekend robbery.
The robbery at the Banco Central branch in the northeastern city of Fortaleza was the second-largest bank heist in the world after a 1987 robbery in London of US$72 million.
Federal police detained the driver of a vehicle transport truck and the passenger during an operation late Wednesday in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, 2,500km from Fortaleza.
Police said 1 million reals were found inside two vehicles that were among 11 cars loaded onto the truck.
The bank robbers are believed to have bought several cars late Saturday in Fortaleza. The car dealer was said to have grown suspicious and alerted the authorities after the purchasers paid for the cars in cash.
Authorities believe the robbery took place early Saturday. Since the theft was only discovered Monday, the robbers had a 48-hour lead on the authorities.
To reach the vault, the robbers -- believed to number between 10 and 20 people -- dug a tunnel from a fictitious gardening company in a house opposite the bank in Fortaleza's business district.
The tunnel was 4m below a main road and 80m long.
The thieves had to pierce the vault's 1m-thick iron and cement floor, and there was no immediate sign of explosives used.
The tunnel, 70cm wide, lined with plastic, and lit with electric lights, was believed to have taken at least three months to build, authorities said.
The gang took 3.5 tonnes worth of used 50-real bills and carried the loot unnoticed out the front door of the house, which carried a sign for the fictitious company called Grama Sintetica (Synthetic Grass).
The cover allowed them to get rid of the earth they dug without suspicion, police said.
The robbers spread a white powder all over the house to make it difficult for police to detect fingerprints.
Authorities are looking into the Gang of the Tattooed, which is linked to two Sao Paulo robberies last year in which tunnels were used. They are also probing whether two gangs had collaborated for the heist.
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