'The Great Heist' Preview: True story of 'the robbery of the century' that took place in Colombia in 1994
Netflix is known to cater to its international audiences with releases of hit series such as 'Fauda,' 'Money Heist,' 'Dark,' and many more. Among the streamer's August releases is the web series titled 'The Great Heist' aka 'El Robo Del Siglo', which brings a true story from 1994 Colombia to life. The Colombian original series chronicles 'The robbery of the century' that occurred in October of that fateful year where a group of thieves reportedly stole over $30 million from the Bank of the Republic leaving the country in shock.
The thieves had stolen millions from the country's central bank in Valledupar, according to reports of the true-crime event. It was reported by Express that the gang of thieves included multiple professionals such as "established robbers, electronics specialist, four members of the police, the manager of the Agrarian Fund of a municipality of Cundinamarca and three officials from the bank itself, including a cashier, the treasurer and the manager of the security system." The thieves used "tools, masks, welding machines, and oxygen tanks." When officials and staff of the country's central bank reached the vault, they found it completely empty. The crime thriller series will chronicle the events of that fateful Monday conspired by reportedly fourteen robbers over the course of six episodes.
You must be wondering how the thieves entered the bank or you may have already thought of the 'Money Heist' plotline. But no, according to reports, the gang entered the bank through the front door posing as workers to do "air conditioning maintenance," and apparently stayed "undetected" in the bank building for 21 hours. There were no gunshots either! With some officials of the bank involved in the well-thought-out plan, the thieves most definitely had inside advantage to pull off such a costly heist.
The publication also revealed that the series is partly inspired by the 2008 novel titled 'This is How I Robbed the Bank: The Assault of the 20th Century in Colombia,' written by journalist Alfredo Serrano Zabala. "This is a series that will go around the world because this is a universal fact. In all parts of the world, there are robberies, in all parts of the world there are people dreaming of sleeping poor and dawn rich. This is the richness of history. It will surely be a success because people like the real thing," she said.
The official synopsis reads, "Inspired by the true events, 'The Great Heist' follows the assault on the Bank of the Republic, also known as 'The robbery of the century' perpetrated in October 1994. A band of thieves stole US $33million and put the whole country upside down."
Catch 'The Great Heist' aka 'El Robo Del Siglo' on Netflix on August 14, 2020.
Watch the trailer below.