Chile fires airport security chief after huge
robbery
Chilean police inspect a vehicle which was
used to in the robbery, August 12, 2014.
Gang robs $10m in
record Chile theft
Chile has fired the security chief of the country's
main airport after an "embarrassing" robbery of more than $10m (£6.2) at the
cargo terminal.
Chilean Defence Minister Jorge Burgos said a probe had
been launched into how eight armed men had managed to steal the money from a
security van at the airport in the capital, Santiago.
He called Tuesday's
incident "unfortunate and serious".
Security footage showed the gang had
acted disguised as airport workers.
"While the investigation is being
carried out, the security chief of Arturo Merino Benitez Airport (Rolando
Alegria) has been relieved from his duties," Mr Burgos told a news
conference.
He also pledged that the airport's security measures would be
"revised, modified and altered".
No shots fired
Dressed as ground
personnel, the robbers entered the cargo area of Santiago's international
airport and intercepted the armoured vehicle carrying the money.
It was
being loaded onto a plane bound for banks and mining companies in northern
Chile.
The gunmen held up the guards, who had left their weapons at
airport security, and emptied the security truck, before running away without
firing any shots.
The robbery itself - one of the biggest in Chilean
history - was not captured on camera, but the footage showed the bandits fleeing
in two white vans two minutes after the theft.
On Tuesday, Chilean
Interior Minister Mahmud Aleuy called security at the airport "an
embarrassment".
The size of the loot surpasses that of a similar robbery
in 2006, when thieves stole $1.6m from a Brink's delivery at the same airport
terminal.
The men behind that robbery were eventually captured and are
serving time in prison.
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