Thieves orchestrated one of the biggest cash heists ever seen in Los Angeles on Easter Sunday, stealing up to $30 million from a San Fernando Valley cash storage facility.
The Los Angeles Police Department said a burglary occurred at an unnamed establishment in Sylmar, according to the Los Angeles Times, which was first to report the incident.
Cash from area businesses was stored there, and law enforcement officials told the Times that few people would have known about the information.
The thieves managed to break into both the building and the safe where the money was kept, the newspaper reported.
Although details of how the break-in occurred are uncertain, sources close to the investigation told the Times that the thieves gained access to the safe by breaking the roof.
How they bypassed the alarm system remains a mystery.
According to the Times, the safe showed no outward signs of a break-in and the business owners only became aware of the theft when the safe was opened on Monday.
Although the LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, it released a joint statement with the FBI.
In the statement provided to CBS News, they said a joint investigation was underway into the burglary.
“No additional information relating to the incident has been released,” the agencies said.
According to the LAPD, the city saw a 17% increase in thefts in 2023 compared to the previous year. However, the increase is primarily due to an increase in incidents of shoplifting, flash-mob thefts and other forms of retail theft, according to a Crosstown LA analysis of LAPD statistics.
Although multi-million dollar thefts are a relatively rare form of theft, their impact remains significant. LAPD Commander Elaine Morales told the Times that the burglary was one of the largest burglaries in Los Angeles history and exceeded the total of all armored vehicle heists in the city.
The city’s previous record-breaking cash heist occurred in 1997 when a group of downtown Los Angeles men stole nearly $19 million in less than 30 minutes from a Dunbar armored facility .
One of the men was arrested two years later, leading authorities to the other suspects.
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