Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
17th April 2024 Issue no. 701

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$1m diamonds theft shakes confidence in Indian bank security

In a case that has shaken confidence in Indian bank security, four men including two diamond dealers, along with a real estate dealer and a master locksmith have been arrested on charges of robbing diamonds worth at least $1 million from seven bank security lockers.
 
The bank, a major diamond finance institution, was robbed after the four succeeded in duplicating locker keys as well as the bank custodian's keys.

Some 400 carats alone (worth approximately $350,000) were stolen from a locker in April last year, while the other thefts may have taken place earlier.

The two diamond dealers and the real estate agent rented lockers at the bank and used this as a pretext to get impressions of other locker keys on blanks supplied by the locksmith.

What worries police and security officials is that the locksmith himself never entered the bank but was able to fabricate accurate duplicates of the keys from a remote location. The locksmith reportedly took three months to painstakingly craft the bank custodian's keys from impressions brought back by the other gang members.

26th January 2011