Lord777
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USSR, umbrella and robbery for 1.5 million rubles.
On August 5, 1977, the largest robbery in Soviet history took place. Two citizens performed it in the branch of the State Bank in Yerevan. And they managed to do it with the help of an ordinary children's umbrella.
The robbery was committed by cousins Nikolai and Felix Kalachyan. The first had a rather difficult childhood. As a teenager, he dropped out of school and ran away from home, temporarily living with gypsies and engaging in petty crime. Felix is all a respectable way of life. He was married and had two children. Felix also did artistic gymnastics, earning the title of candidate for master of sports. But financially, he was not doing well, and therefore, during one of the meetings with his cousin, he accepted his offer to engage in criminal craft.
Together they robbed the shops of manufactured goods. Nikolai was responsible for the development of operations, and Felix for their execution. Probably, the brothers would have robbed shops and savings banks if Nikolai had not met Zaven Baghdasaryan, who worked at the State Bank in Yerevan and was a member of the banknote recounting commission.
And at some point, a new acquaintance of the brothers became infected with the idea of a bank robbery, but he himself did not want to participate in this. And then Baghdasaryan proposed this idea to Kalachyan. And then he gave them a detailed outline of the building plan, the location of the storehouse, and other similar things. For a tip, he asked the brothers for 40 thousand rubles from their future booty.
For six months, Nikolai went to the State Bank building every day and carefully monitored all the actions of the guards. During the preparation process, it turned out that there were no guards inside the building outside of working hours. Another building adjoined one of the walls of the State Bank building. And according to Nikolai's plan, Felix was supposed to get into this building, break through the double wall and end up inside the State Bank. As they already knew, the money was not kept there in the basement, but on the second floor.
There was no safe, the money was in simple cells.
And on August 5, 1977, the plan began to be implemented. Felix Kalachyan entered the building, whose wall was adjacent to the State Bank. He had more than ten drills and a children's umbrella with him. According to the plan, Felix was to drill the floor in the staff break room, large chunks of concrete would fall to the floor of the vault from a height of four meters. Nikolai thought that they would make too loud a sound when dropped and attract attention, so he persuaded his brother to take an umbrella. He had to drill a small hole, insert an umbrella into it and open it so that the debris fell into it.
However, from the very beginning, things did not go according to plan. The fact is that the walls turned out to be too thick, and in order to drill holes in two walls, he would have had to spend a lot of time.
Climbing onto the roof, Felix noticed that one of the windows in the staff break room on the third floor had remained open. And gymnastic training helped him get there. As a result, he ended up in the break room, and there was a storage room on the floor below. Soon Felix made a hole 34 centimeters in diameter, secured the rope and descended to the required place.
Having stuffed two huge sacks with money, he immediately disappeared. Felix Kalachyan managed to withdraw from the bank about one and a half million rubles.
Since in the history of the USSR, such a robbery has never happened. this was immediately reported to Moscow, and the best investigators got down to business. However, even they did not have a single lead. The only thing they could say in the early days is that the criminals apparently had a gunner from among the bank staff.
Although the brothers left no traces at the crime scene, most of the stolen money consisted of new hundred-ruble bills, only recently released into circulation. And all shops and savings banks were instructed to report large purchases for which they paid with new banknotes. The brothers understood this, and therefore were in no hurry to spend money.
After some time, Nikolai came up with, as it seemed to him, a win-win way to legalize the stolen capital. Large bills were planned to be spent on government bonds. And the bonds received could be exchanged back for "real" money, no longer attracting attention. They did it in Tashkent, but while there they figured out what was happening and reported where necessary, they were already gone. Later they went to Moscow, where Nikolai met a Muscovite, whom he charmed, including with expensive gifts.
The girl's brother was a taxi driver. Nikolai Kalachyan told him that he was planning a magnificent wedding with his sister and he had a large sum of money, which he won at cards. However, he now has no opportunity to legalize it, so he asked him to buy a large batch of government bonds. And during this operation, the young man was immediately detained.
Further, the investigators learned about the brothers from him. And on June 7, 1978, they were arrested. As a result, Nikolai and Felix were sentenced to death. And their gunner Baghdasaryan got off with 11 years in prison.
On August 5, 1977, the largest robbery in Soviet history took place. Two citizens performed it in the branch of the State Bank in Yerevan. And they managed to do it with the help of an ordinary children's umbrella.
The robbery was committed by cousins Nikolai and Felix Kalachyan. The first had a rather difficult childhood. As a teenager, he dropped out of school and ran away from home, temporarily living with gypsies and engaging in petty crime. Felix is all a respectable way of life. He was married and had two children. Felix also did artistic gymnastics, earning the title of candidate for master of sports. But financially, he was not doing well, and therefore, during one of the meetings with his cousin, he accepted his offer to engage in criminal craft.
Together they robbed the shops of manufactured goods. Nikolai was responsible for the development of operations, and Felix for their execution. Probably, the brothers would have robbed shops and savings banks if Nikolai had not met Zaven Baghdasaryan, who worked at the State Bank in Yerevan and was a member of the banknote recounting commission.
And at some point, a new acquaintance of the brothers became infected with the idea of a bank robbery, but he himself did not want to participate in this. And then Baghdasaryan proposed this idea to Kalachyan. And then he gave them a detailed outline of the building plan, the location of the storehouse, and other similar things. For a tip, he asked the brothers for 40 thousand rubles from their future booty.
For six months, Nikolai went to the State Bank building every day and carefully monitored all the actions of the guards. During the preparation process, it turned out that there were no guards inside the building outside of working hours. Another building adjoined one of the walls of the State Bank building. And according to Nikolai's plan, Felix was supposed to get into this building, break through the double wall and end up inside the State Bank. As they already knew, the money was not kept there in the basement, but on the second floor.
There was no safe, the money was in simple cells.
And on August 5, 1977, the plan began to be implemented. Felix Kalachyan entered the building, whose wall was adjacent to the State Bank. He had more than ten drills and a children's umbrella with him. According to the plan, Felix was to drill the floor in the staff break room, large chunks of concrete would fall to the floor of the vault from a height of four meters. Nikolai thought that they would make too loud a sound when dropped and attract attention, so he persuaded his brother to take an umbrella. He had to drill a small hole, insert an umbrella into it and open it so that the debris fell into it.
However, from the very beginning, things did not go according to plan. The fact is that the walls turned out to be too thick, and in order to drill holes in two walls, he would have had to spend a lot of time.
Climbing onto the roof, Felix noticed that one of the windows in the staff break room on the third floor had remained open. And gymnastic training helped him get there. As a result, he ended up in the break room, and there was a storage room on the floor below. Soon Felix made a hole 34 centimeters in diameter, secured the rope and descended to the required place.
Having stuffed two huge sacks with money, he immediately disappeared. Felix Kalachyan managed to withdraw from the bank about one and a half million rubles.
Since in the history of the USSR, such a robbery has never happened. this was immediately reported to Moscow, and the best investigators got down to business. However, even they did not have a single lead. The only thing they could say in the early days is that the criminals apparently had a gunner from among the bank staff.
Although the brothers left no traces at the crime scene, most of the stolen money consisted of new hundred-ruble bills, only recently released into circulation. And all shops and savings banks were instructed to report large purchases for which they paid with new banknotes. The brothers understood this, and therefore were in no hurry to spend money.
After some time, Nikolai came up with, as it seemed to him, a win-win way to legalize the stolen capital. Large bills were planned to be spent on government bonds. And the bonds received could be exchanged back for "real" money, no longer attracting attention. They did it in Tashkent, but while there they figured out what was happening and reported where necessary, they were already gone. Later they went to Moscow, where Nikolai met a Muscovite, whom he charmed, including with expensive gifts.
The girl's brother was a taxi driver. Nikolai Kalachyan told him that he was planning a magnificent wedding with his sister and he had a large sum of money, which he won at cards. However, he now has no opportunity to legalize it, so he asked him to buy a large batch of government bonds. And during this operation, the young man was immediately detained.
Further, the investigators learned about the brothers from him. And on June 7, 1978, they were arrested. As a result, Nikolai and Felix were sentenced to death. And their gunner Baghdasaryan got off with 11 years in prison.
