You get two types of criminals.

There’s the sloppy kind, who act when they spot an opportunity, and those who have made a career out of pulling off heists that you know took a fair amount of planning.

The second kind can be quite impressive.

Over the years, some sophisticated criminals have managed to pull off jobs that make the events of the film Ocean’s Eleven look like child’s play.

Here’s CNN with some of recent history’s most impressive jewellery heists.

The Dresden Green Vault Heist

Some have called this the biggest art heist in history. In Dresden, Germany, you’ll find the Green Vault, housed in eight ornate rooms in the Residenzschloss – a former royal palace.

In it, you can view roughly 3 000 items of jewellery and other treasures decorated with gold, silver, ivory and pearl. They include a figure of a moor studded with emeralds and a 648-carat sapphire – a royal gift from Russia’s Tsar Peter the Great.

Last month, thieves armed with crowbars broke into the Green Vault and made off with a priceless haul of diamond jewellery.

Hatton Garden Safe Deposit

In what resembled a scene out of The Italian Job, some crafty thieves spent their Easter weekend in 2015, fleecing safe deposit boxes in London’s famed jewellery district.

They may have raided the contents of roughly 300 boxes and made off with jewels worth millions. The crooks were later caught and put on trial where they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle.

The prosecution described the four middle-aged men as the “ringleaders and organisers” of the crime.

Carlton Hotel

In 2013, a series of jewellery heists rocked the French Riviera. Among them was the theft of jewels worth an estimated €102 million from an exhibition at the Carlton Hotel.

The crazy thing is that it happened in broad daylight. The thief, wearing a hat and scarf, threatened to shoot guests and exhibitors with a semiautomatic pistol before making off with the goods.

The Heist at Harry’s

In 2008, four armed robbers, two of them in drag, walked into the luxury jewellery store Harry Winston, in Paris, where they pulled out weapons and took customers and employees hostage.

They then made off with €80 million in jewels.

Antwerp Diamond Heist

In 2003, on February 15, $100 million’s worth of precious stones was snatched from the Antwerp Diamond Centre in Belgium.

The thieves, led by Leonardo Notarbartolo, were able to overcome some of the world’s most advanced security measures including hi-tech combination locks, motion and heat sensors and 18-inch steel doors.

Graff Jewellery Store

Way back in 2009, two men, dressed in suits, walked into Graff jewellery store on London’s New Bond Street in the middle of the day and stole jewellery worth an estimated £40 million.

They used handguns to subdue employees before grabbing as much as they could carry and then escaping in a blue BMW. They were later caught and charged with robbery.

Venice’s Doge’s Palace

Doge’s Palace was exhibiting a collection from the Qatari royal collection in 2018 when two crooks snatched a pair of earrings and a brooch made from diamonds, gold and platinum.

The items were worth a few million euros and were owned by the former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani. One thief acted as a lookout, while the other snatched the jewels from the case.

That last one isn’t the most sophisticated job, and is more of a failure on the part of the palace.

Let’s hope they’ve upped their security since then.

[source:cnn]