2005 Ploiești shootout
| 2005 Ploiești shootout | |
|---|---|
| Location | Strada Depoului, Ploiești, Romania |
| Date | 30 June 2005 5:45 a.m. – 6:06 a.m.(EEST, UTC+03:00) |
| Target | Banca Dâmbovița regional cash-processing centre |
| Attack type | Cash-centre robbery and shootout |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 10 (2 police officers and 8 cash-centre guards and employees) |
| Injured | 10 (5 police officers, 3 cash-centre guards and employees, and 2 perpetrators) |
| Perpetrators | Petru Ionuț, Iakob Ionuț, and Emil Ionuț |
| Motive | Robbery and test of Iakob's planning |
| Era | Vriend Era |
The 2005 Ploiești shootout was a gun battle during a robbery of Banca Dâmbovița's regional cash-processing centre in Ploiești, Romania, on 30 June 2005. Iakob Ionuț, Petru Ionuț, and Emil Ionuț stole cash worth 6 million new Romanian lei before escaping in separate vehicles. Ten people were killed and ten were wounded during the robbery and escape, including Petru and Emil. All three robbers escaped, and the case remained unsolved.
Preparation
[edit | edit source]Oskar Dirlewanger ordered Iakob to plan the robbery as a test of his ability, following similar tests of Emil in the 2002 Bucharest bank robbery and Petru in the 2004 Brașov armored car robbery. Iakob chose Banca Dâmbovița's cash centre on Strada Depoului in the Ploiești Sud industrial and railway district.
For about one week before the robbery, Iakob watched the centre alone over several mornings. He wanted to prove that he could plan an operation without help and did not tell Petru or Emil about the surveillance while it was underway. From outside the centre he watched when staff and cash vehicles arrived, when the loading bay opened, and how the first outbound cash dispatch was prepared. He used the repeated morning routine and the amount of new currency being prepared for the Romanian leu redenomination to estimate that the centre would contain enough accessible cash for a haul worth about 30 million new lei, or 300 billion old lei. On 30 June, the building held its normal reserves together with new-leu banknotes awaiting release the following day.
Iakob timed the attack for the first outbound cash dispatch. His plan was to enter through the open loading bay, seize the dispatch area, and reach the counting hall before police arrived. He would lead the entry while Emil kept the route back to the loading bay open. Petru would remain near the vehicle once the initial entry was secured and carry the prepared cash consignments outside. Iakob arranged no second escape vehicle.
Shortly before presenting the plan, Iakob stole a white Renault Master himself for use in the robbery. He told Petru and Emil about the operation on the evening of 29 June, after he considered his planning complete. Petru argued that a direct attack through the loading bay was unsafe, but Iakob refused to change it. Emil also doubted the plan but was drunk during the preparation and did little to oppose it.
After hearing the plan, the three chose their own weapons and armour. They wore black clothing, gloves and boots with heavy body armour. Iakob wore an aramid vest and groin protector beneath a load-bearing ammunition vest, adding separate protection over his forearms, thighs, and shins. Petru's armour used rigid plates over his chest and back with additional panels on his upper arms and thighs. Emil wore a heavy aramid vest fitted with a rigid trauma plate and groin protection.
Iakob armed himself with a PM md. 63 fitted with a 75-round drum magazine, while Petru carried the same rifle with standard magazines. Emil took an RPK and carried a compact vz. 61 Škorpion behind his armour. Petru and Iakob also carried Makarov PM pistols, and Emil retained his Luger P08.
At approximately 4:25 a.m. on 30 June, the three left Bucharest together in the Renault and travelled north toward Ploiești on the DN1/E60 corridor. They were already wearing their black clothing and body armour, while the long guns remained concealed inside the van. Shortly before the attack they put on their balaclavas and brought the weapons out. Iakob also took cocaine because he was nervous and wanted to feel more confident before carrying out the plan.
Shootout
[edit | edit source]At approximately 5:45 a.m., Petru drove the Renault into the cash centre's vehicle court and stopped immediately outside the open loading bay. He joined Iakob and Emil for the initial entry, and all three moved through the bay into the dispatch area.
A guard saw the masked armed men entering and pressed his mobile panic button before firing at Iakob. Iakob immediately returned fire and killed him. The alarm had already been transmitted when two guards responded to the gunfire from the counting hall, entering the corridor toward the dispatch area. Emil, who was covering that route, opened fire with the RPK. He killed one guard and seriously wounded the other. The wounded guard retreated deeper into the building, and the three robbers entered the counting hall.
They took consignments already prepared for dispatch rather than continuing into the inner cash-storage section. Once the route between the counting hall and loading bay was secured, Petru returned toward the Renault and began carrying the consignments outside.
At approximately 5:49 a.m., Petru was carrying another consignment toward the loading bay when the security supervisor came up behind him and knocked the PM md. 63 from his hands. They fought at close range until Petru overpowered the supervisor and repeatedly punched him. Petru then drew his Makarov PM and shot the supervisor in the head, committing his first documented murder. A bullet grazed Petru's shoulder during the fight.
When Petru returned to the counting hall, Iakob was already firing at anyone who moved, including unarmed employees. The guard whom Emil had seriously wounded earlier fired back from deeper inside the building and struck Iakob twice in the body armour. Neither bullet penetrated. Iakob returned fire and killed the guard, then continued shooting through the hall, killing three employees and wounding two others.
The open loading bay faced the vehicle court, approximately 100 feet (30 m) from its gate. At approximately 5:50 a.m., the first patrol from Ploiești Urban Police Section 4 drove through the gate in response to the alarm and stopped near the entrance to the court. Iakob heard the police car arrive and moved back toward the loading-bay opening. He saw the officer at the wheel open his door and begin to step out while the second officer moved behind the car toward the brick gatepost. Iakob opened fire from the loading-bay area, killing the driver beside the open door and seriously wounding his partner before he reached the gatepost.
At approximately 5:52 a.m., Emil remained farther inside the counting hall and expected Iakob to protect the corridor behind him. Once Petru had loaded cash worth approximately 6 million new lei, Iakob left the corridor without warning Emil and ordered Petru to drive. Emil was still facing deeper into the building when the two withdrew. Once Iakob stopped covering the route, surviving guards moved back into the corridor and took positions between Emil and the loading bay. Emil realized that he had been cut off when he tried to follow the others.
Police reinforcements reached the centre at approximately 5:53 a.m. as Petru drove the Renault out of the vehicle court. Iakob fired from the rear doors and wounded two officers, preventing an immediate pursuit of the van.
Escape
[edit | edit source]Petru drove toward a Bucharest Butchers vehicle-repair workshop near Brazi. Emil abandoned his blocked route to the loading bay and moved through an employee corridor toward the staff exit on the opposite side of the centre. A security officer attempted to stop him in the corridor, and Emil killed him before continuing toward the exit.
An employee had just arrived for the morning shift in a 1998 Dacia 1310 and was beside the car in the employee parking area when Emil came out. Emil shot him, took the Dacia and left the centre at approximately 5:56 a.m. Arriving police units pursued him in the opposite direction from the Renault.
Emil sped along Strada Depoului while firing the RPK through the front windscreen at police officers ahead of him. Police gunfire struck him in the arm, thigh, and lower leg, while other rounds hit his armour. At approximately 5:59 a.m., police fire disabled the Dacia and Emil crashed into a parked delivery truck. He climbed from the wreck and emptied the RPK's final drum magazine at officers behind him, killing one and wounding two. Other rounds struck vehicles and buildings along the street.
After abandoning the empty RPK, Emil drew the vz. 61 Škorpion carried behind his armour. At approximately 6:00 a.m., he stopped a man driving a 1969 Dodge Charger to work, pointed the Škorpion at him and ordered him out. Police fire from officers arriving in the area kept Emil from immediately entering the Charger, while officers from the earlier exchange remained with the wounded. He was able to reach the car and leave at approximately 6:06 a.m., then drove toward the workshop near Brazi.
Petru and Iakob reached the workshop at approximately 6:08 a.m. Andrei Miclescu, who repaired vehicles for the Bucharest Butchers, was already there. He helped them move the Renault inside and unload the cash. Petru and Iakob counted the prepared consignments and established that they had taken only about 6 million new lei, one-fifth of the amount Iakob had expected.
Emil arrived at approximately 6:15 a.m. and accused Iakob of deliberately abandoning him. He shoved Iakob, who stepped forward before Petru separated them. Emil initially refused medical treatment until Petru ordered him to sit down. After seeing Emil's three gunshot wounds, Miclescu contacted Graham Mercer, a British doctor working for the Bucharest Butchers. Mercer arrived later that morning and treated Emil's wounds and Petru's shoulder graze.
Aftermath
[edit | edit source]The Renault Master was dismantled inside the workshop later that day. Miclescu repainted the Dodge Charger and fitted it with different registration plates. The Charger was never recovered. Emil's RPK and empty drum magazine were found beside the wrecked Dacia and became the principal ballistic evidence in the investigation.
Later that morning, Oskar Dirlewanger came to the workshop with Constantin Vlădescu. Vlădescu accompanied him as protection and remained there as his guard while Dirlewanger spoke with the three robbers. Iakob told Dirlewanger that Emil had advanced too far and caused their separation by ignoring the plan. Emil denied this, and the two argued again in front of Dirlewanger.
Dirlewanger considered Iakob's plan a failure because the crew had obtained only 20% of the intended amount and had nearly left Emil behind. Although he approved of the violence, he blamed Emil for becoming separated from Petru and Iakob. Dirlewanger kept the entire 6 million lei.
Police Chief Commissioner Lucian Mureșan prevented investigators from connecting the recovered RPK and wrecked Dacia to Petru, Iakob, or Emil. The case remained unsolved. All eight wounded guards, employees, and police officers eventually recovered. Petru and Emil also recovered from their wounds.