Today in History - November 26: Robbers completely unprepared for unexpected haul
Six robbers intending to steal around $7 million in Spanish currency instead found a much bigger prize on November 26, 1983.
The group of robbers got into a warehouse from security firm Brink's-Mat in London with the help of a complicit security guard.
They poured petrol onto staff and threatened them with a lit match if they didn't give them the vault combination.
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Police searching cars after the Brink's-Mat robbery. Getty
When they got inside they instead found three tonnes of pure gold.
The gold was being stored in the warehouse overnight before being shipped to Hong Kong the next day.
What was intended to be a quick smash-and-grab robbery became a complex operation. The robbers had to seek more transport because they couldn't fit everything in their getaway van.
The group's haul of gold, cash, travellers' cheques and precious stones ended up amounting to an estimated $588 million in today's money.
Such an extraordinary amount of gold created a huge headache for the robbers, especially since everybody in the UK became very aware of the high-profile case.
It took just ten days for police to link security guard Anthony Black to two of the robbers.
By the time Micky McAvoy was arrested, he had already entrusted his share of the gold to associate Brian Perry.
But realising he was facing a long prison term, McAvoy offered to surrender the gold in exchange for leniency.
Perry, however, refused to give back the gold.
Instead he brought in Kenneth Noye, who made the gold bullion untraceable by mixing it with copper.
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The warehouse where the robbery took place. Getty
But despite the savvy move, police began investigating Noye when he tried to withdraw £3 million (A$20 million in today's money) in one transaction at a UK bank.
An undercover police officer dressed in a balaclava was tasked with breaking into Noye's home to investigate.
When Noye was confronted by the officer, he stabbed him to death.
Claiming self-defence, Noye was acquitted of murder.
But officers later found gold from the robbery in his home, and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Perry would also serve jail time for his role in the money laundering. He would be gunned down in an unsolved murder months after his release.
More than 40 years on, most of the gold has not been recovered and most of the culprits have not been caught.
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John Palmer with his wife, Marnie. Palmer earned his nickname from his connection to the 1983 Brinks-Mat gold bullion robbery in the UK. He was acquitted but an associate was convicted. Getty
Another suspect in the robbery, John "Goldfinger" Palmer was shot dead in 2015.
It is believed much of the gold is now part of the legitimate market.
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