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Banco Central Burglary

Published September 21, 2026Updated September 21, 2026
SolvedVisual case overview

12 documented events · 4 mapped locations · documented resolution

Banco Central Burglary, through the record

Operating behind a synthetic-turf storefront, a crew of more than thirty people excavated a reinforced, ventilated tunnel more than 75 metres beneath central Fortaleza. During the night of August 5–6, 2005, they broke through the vault...

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Operating behind a synthetic-turf storefront, a crew of more than thirty people excavated a reinforced, ventilated tunnel more than 75 metres beneath central Fortaleza. During the night of August 5–6, 2005, they broke through the vault floor and removed about 3.5 tonnes of circulated R$50 notes. Vehicle purchases, travel records, recovered cash and testimony exposed a wider logistics and laundering network. Numerous participants were convicted, but leadership accounts conflict, kidnappings and killings followed the theft, and most of the money was never recovered.

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Banco Central regional office in Fortaleza

Case record

Banco Central regional office in Fortaleza

The scale

The case in four numbers

12
documented events
in the published chronology
5
years represented
2005 through 2009
8
people in the record
victims, witnesses, investigators, and suspects
4
mapped locations
connected to the published case file

The case sequence

Events that define the published record

This selection follows the major progression of the case from its earliest documented event through the latest material development.

See all 4 mapped locations →
  1. 01

    May 1, 2005

    Crew establishes the synthetic-turf front

    The group rented 1071 Rua 25 de Março and presented it as P.S. de Souza Grama Sintética. The functioning storefront explained deliveries, soil and continuous activity while shielding preparations.

  2. 02

    Aug 2, 2005

    Members of the network try to charter an aircraft

    Three days before the burglary, witnesses identified men linked to the later proceeds network attempting to rent an aircraft. The federal appellate record treated this as evidence of advance planning for rapid movement after the theft, although the attempted charter was not itself proof that cash ultimately travelled on that plane.

  3. 03

    Aug 6, 2005

    Cash and participants disperse from Fortaleza

    Prosecutors said part of the money was sent to São Paulo as commercial-airline baggage while participants also left by air and road. Airport images and later financial transactions helped investigators reconstruct the movement.

  4. 04

    Sep 28, 2005

    Five arrests yield roughly R$12.25 million

    Federal Police arrested five men at a Fortaleza property, recovered about R$12.25 million and obtained admissions concerning the tunnel work. The operation also sharpened the focus on the alleged organisers.

  5. 05

    Mar 4, 2008

    Antônio Jussivan and Marcos Rogério are convicted

    A federal judge imposed 49-year, two-month sentences for qualified theft and connected offenses. Appellate proceedings later reduced both terms to 35 years and ten months.

  6. 06

    Jul 31, 2009

    Federal Police arrest Moisés Teixeira da Silva

    Agents arrested the alleged tunnel specialist in Vila Mariana after more than a year of surveillance, closing one of the investigation's most prominent outstanding manhunts.

How the record develops

Three points in the documented sequence

1
From the case record

The group rented 1071 Rua 25 de Março and presented it as P.S. de Souza Grama Sintética. The functioning storefront explained deliveries, soil and continuous activity while shielding preparations.

2
From the case record

Federal Police arrested five men at a Fortaleza property, recovered about R$12.25 million and obtained admissions concerning the tunnel work. The operation also sharpened the focus on the alleged organisers.

3
From the case record

Agents arrested the alleged tunnel specialist in Vila Mariana after more than a year of surveillance, closing one of the investigation's most prominent outstanding manhunts.

Investigators and journalists examine the tunnel entrance
2009
latest timeline year

Federal Police arrest Moisés Teixeira da Silva

Agents arrested the alleged tunnel specialist in Vila Mariana after more than a year of surveillance, closing one of the investigation's most prominent outstanding manhunts.

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This overview is the map. The case tabs hold the underlying events, people, media, locations, and source material.

12 events 8 people 4 locations 6 images Case documents