About twenty bandits armed to the teeth, dressed in camouflage and bulletproof vests, with their faces covered. Ready to kill . Military-style operation with stolen cars, dozens of bullets fired, car fires and nails scattered on the street.
«There were four cars all attached and a lorry with an excavator. I thought, they're going to work." Thus Patrizia, resident in via Caniga, on the outskirts of Sassari , witnessed live, yesterday at 8.08pm, the assault by an armed commando against the Mondialpol vault .
A Friday evening at the end of June during the war in Sassari. Everything was studied down to the smallest detail, starting from the timing of the coup, which arrived two days after the delivery of the pensions. Which the supervisory institute assures, have not been touched.
As soon as they arrive at the location chosen for the robbery, the thieves begin to shoot at the turret , preventing any response from the vigilantes: the forensic police found around 150 shells of short weapons (such as pistols) and long barreled weapons (such as Kalashnikovs). In the meantime they take the mechanical shovel to the field next to the surrounding wall. With this they break through the internal wall , leaving the external one intact, and penetrate through a staircase, breaking the glass of the window on the top floor .
An operation documented by numerous videos released on social media which, in real time, record the movement of the shovel which, with rapid and precise movements, picks up between six and seven bags and takes them out of the institute. A huge loot, which probably amounts to a few million euros , or at least so some people try to hypothesize.
But the vault, as specified by Mondialpol of Sassari, was not stormed. «Our security systems - we read in a press release - overall withstood the violence of the attack and the criminals managed to take possession of only part of the cash present in the office, and not the contents of the vault. The armored room, which constitutes the heart of the building, was not conquered ."
While the mechanical arm is operating, a man then shoots inside the Mondialpol and, on the roof of the excavator, guides the passage of money by shouting orders while the bags are deposited in a vehicle placed below him. About ten minutes after the start of the blitz , a carabinieri car arrives at which the criminals fire several bullets. The bonnet is riddled by shots that puncture the engine from which petrol begins to leak. The soldiers manage to get out in time before the car catches fire and respond to the attack . None of them, and it is almost a miracle, will be injured in the firefight.
To cover their escape, the criminals set several cars on fire, left another just before the level crossing that leads to Via Caniga, and spread nails along the 131 which punctured the wheels of dozens of cars .
The bandits also modified the Fiat Ducato used to escape with the loot: the roof was in fact cut to unload the bags directly into it with the arm of the excavator, which was then left at the site of the assault.
The police hunt began immediately, led by the state police, who also made use of helicopters in addition to the cars in service.
Trained criminals, ready to take enormous risks in broad daylight, to engage in a firefight with the police and to kill. It is truly a coincidence that no injuries were reported , and it is the only positive news of the evening. The security guard on the turret was saved by the bulletproof glass, the carabinieri were saved by the windshield of the car which withstood the impact of the shots .
It is the third time in a few years that the Mondialpol vault in Caniga has been attacked, in 2018 the heist brought in 10 million euros. And the attack on the armored car in Siligo was just five months ago.