2004 Brașov armored car robbery

2004 Brașov armored car robbery
Location	DN1/E68 between Ghimbav and Brașov, Brașov County, Romania
Date	20 December 2004 9:18 a.m. – 9:23 a.m.(EET, UTC+02:00)
Target	Banca Dâmbovița armored vehicle
Attack type	Armored car robbery
Weapons	Petru: PM md. 63 Makarov PM Iakob: PM md. 63 Makarov PM Emil: PM md. 63 Luger P08
Deaths	0
Injured	0
Perpetrators	Petru Ionuț, Iakob Ionuț, and Emil Ionuț
Motive	Robbery and test of Petru's planning
Era	Vriend Era

The 2004 Brașov armored car robbery was an armed robbery carried out by Petru Ionuț, Iakob Ionuț, and Emil Ionuț on the DN1/E68 between Ghimbav and Brașov, Romania, on 20 December 2004. The three used a false roadworks site to stop a Banca Dâmbovița armored vehicle and stole 40 billion old Romanian lei without firing a shot. They changed vehicles near Ghimbav and remained at Petru's safehouse near Holbav for two nights before returning to Bucharest.

The robbery was planned by Petru as a test set by Oskar Dirlewanger. It was the second of three robberies used to test the planning of Emil, Petru, and Iakob.

Preparation

Petru began watching the armored vehicle about two weeks before the robbery. He followed it on several runs using different civilian cars and recorded its usual departure time, its route along the DN1/E68, and the places where traffic or the road layout forced it to slow. As Christmas approached, he noticed heavier cash movements and selected the 20 December run because he expected the vehicle to be carrying more money than usual. He did not know the amount beforehand.

Petru chose a stretch of the DN1/E68 between Ghimbav and Brașov and obtained a road-maintenance truck for the robbery. He also collected temporary warning signs, barriers, cones, road-worker coveralls, reflective vests, work gloves, and hard hats. A dark blue Volkswagen Transporter T4 was parked beforehand at an enclosed industrial site near Ghimbav for the planned vehicle change.

Petru, Iakob, and Emil reached the road at approximately 8:40 a.m. on 20 December and built the false work zone together. They placed warning signs ahead of the site, narrowed the usable lane with barriers and cones, and positioned the maintenance truck nearby. The site was ready shortly before 9:00 a.m. All three wore body armour beneath their road-worker clothing. Their PM md. 63 rifles remained inside the maintenance truck while they waited.

Petru stood in the narrowed lane and directed approaching traffic. Iakob and Emil remained near the truck and barriers. Petru intended to stop the armored vehicle at the narrowest part of the lane, close the road behind it with the maintenance truck, remove the cash, and leave in the truck before changing vehicles near Ghimbav.

Robbery

The Banca Dâmbovița vehicle reached the false roadworks at approximately 9:18 a.m. Its crew consisted of an unarmed driver and two guards carrying 7.65 mm Carpați Md. 1974 pistols and radios. Both guards wore soft protective vests.

Petru signalled the driver to stop. Once the vehicle came to a halt, the three covered their faces and retrieved their rifles from the maintenance truck. Emil then moved the truck across the road behind the armored vehicle, blocking its route back through the work zone.

Petru approached the driver's side and ordered the driver not to touch the radio or alarm controls. Iakob confronted the two guards from the other side and ordered them to put their pistols on the ground. Both complied. Iakob collected their pistols and radios while Petru ordered the senior guard to open the cash compartment.

Iakob kept the driver and guards face-down beside the vehicle while Emil carried the cash containers into the maintenance truck. The transfer lasted about five minutes. Before leaving, Petru forced all three crew members back inside the armored vehicle and closed the doors.

At approximately 9:23 a.m., Petru drove away in the maintenance truck with Iakob, Emil, and the stolen cash. After the truck had left, the armored-car crew got out and used the vehicle's communications equipment to report the robbery. The alarm was raised at approximately 9:24–9:25 a.m.

Escape

Petru drove toward Ghimbav for approximately 3,000-4,000 feet (0.9-1.2 km) before turning onto an industrial access road near Strada Făgărașului and Strada Bârsei. He entered an enclosed site where the dark blue Volkswagen Transporter T4 had been parked before the robbery. Petru, Iakob and Emil moved the cash containers into the Volkswagen and left the maintenance truck behind.

They left Ghimbav in the Transporter and travelled through Cristian and Vulcan to Petru's safehouse on the eastern side of Holbav, near the former refractory-clay quarry. They reached the property in the late morning, then they concealed the Volkswagen and carried all the cash inside.

The three remained inside through the afternoon while police searched the roads around Ghimbav. That evening they counted the 40 billion old Romanian lei that they had stolen. And they stayed at Holbav for two nights.

Investigation and aftermath

Police found the abandoned maintenance truck at approximately 9:43 a.m. The false roadwork signs, barriers, cones and their clothing was still inside. Investigators confirmed that the truck had been stolen and that the roadworks had been staged, but nothing recovered from it identified Petru, Iakob or Emil.

Police Chief Commissioner Lucian Mureșan became involved that morning after being told that the truck had been found. At approximately 10:15 a.m., he ordered vehicle checks west of Ghimbav to be reduced and shifted patrols toward Brașov and the eastern approaches. No road checks were maintained on the Cristian–Vulcan route while Petru, Iakob and Emil were travelling toward Holbav. Mureșan delayed any wider circulation of the recovered truck's details and information that the robbers were believed to have changed vehicles.

Before dawn on 22 December, the three left Holbav in the Volkswagen Transporter and returned to Bucharest. They delivered the 40 billion old lei directly to Dirlewanger. He kept 60% of the money and divided the remaining 40% equally between Petru, Iakob, and Emil.

Dirlewanger accepted Petru's planning but criticized him for completing the robbery without killing anyone, telling him that he had wanted to see blood. The Transporter was handed over to the Bucharest Butchers after the return to Bucharest and dismantled.

The robbery remained unsolved.

See also

• 2002 Bucharest bank robbery
• 2005 Ploiești shootout
• Banca Dâmbovița
• Bucharest Butchers
• Petru Ionuț
• Iakob Ionuț
• Emil Ionuț
• Oskar Dirlewanger