When a job interview led to a jewellery heist!
The ad in the Times of India (March 18th, 1987):
Wanted:
Dynamic Graduates for Intelligence Officers Post and Security Officers Post
Scores applied and out of them 26 were selected. They were asked to report the next day. They were given their ID cards and were briefed on their ‘’assignment’ – a raid on a prominent jewellery store – TBZ (Tribhovandas Bhimji Zhaveri) at Mumbai’s Opera House.
Pic source:gazabpost
The recruits, eager to please and excited at the prospect of a raid on their very first day at work, followed the orders to the T. They pulled down the shutters, escorted customers and staff members out of the shop or told them to wait, asked for the accounts and the registers. After all, their leader had produced a search warrant!
Their leader, the individual who had interviewed, selected and given them their mission even went to the extent of picking jewellery off the showcases and packed them in sample bags and sealed with government seals!
With the ‘raid’ drawing to a close, the leader left with the ‘samples’, mentioning that he needed to supervise another raid in the vicinity and asked his team of ‘officers’ to wait.
He never came back.
The police arrived and had this team of 26 CBI ‘officers’ – Individuals who thought they were getting a job! No leader though – he had vanished. Police tried to pick up his trail, but they could not find him.
Mohan Singh, the name by which he is known, has still not been found. The value of the heist – roughly INR 3.5 Million. A movie ‘Special 26’ inspired by this event was released in 2013 with Akshay kumar in the lead role.
Simply brilliant!
Footnotes[1] 1987 Opera House heist – Wikipedia