2002 Bucharest bank robbery

2002 Bucharest bank robbery
Location	34 Bulevardul Unirii, Sector 3, Bucharest, Romania
Date	23 December 2002 10:30 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.(EET, UTC+02:00)
Target	Banca Dâmbovița's Unirii Central Branch
Attack type	Armed bank robbery
Weapons	Petru: PM md. 63 Makarov PM Iakob: PM md. 65 PSL rifle Makarov PM Emil: PM md. 63 Luger P08
Deaths	0
Perpetrators	Petru Ionuț, Iakob Ionuț, and Emil Ionuț
Motive	Robbery and test of Emil's planning
Era	Vriend Era

The 2002 Bucharest bank robbery was a daylight armed robbery carried out by Petru Ionuț, Iakob Ionuț, and Emil Ionuț at the Unirii Central Branch of Banca Dâmbovița in Bucharest, Romania, on 23 December 2002. After entering the occupied banking hall, Iakob fired into the ceiling and Petru ordered everyone to the ground. The three men stole Romanian and foreign currency worth 180 billion old Romanian lei, while Iakob knocked an eight-month-pregnant customer unconscious.

Preparation

On 16 December 2002, Dirlewanger, who led the Bucharest Butchers, ordered Emil to plan and carry out a robbery that would prove his skills. Emil selected Banca Dâmbovița's Unirii Central Branch after establishing that its cash-processing centre would hold increased reserves before Christmas. During the following week, he directed observation of the branch during public opening hours and recorded the movement of customers, employees, and cash vehicles before choosing the morning of 23 December, when the seasonal cash had already arrived.

Emil assigned Iakob to control the public hall and took Petru with him into the cash-processing area. Each man would carry one duffel bag of cash. When they assembled their equipment at a Bucharest Butchers property on 22 December, Petru and Emil each took a fixed-stock PM md. 63 assault rifle, while Iakob took a folding-stock PM md. 65. Petru wore a full-torso aramid vest, Emil added rigid front and rear plates, and Iakob used front and rear plates with aramid panels over his upper arms and thighs in imitation of the North Hollywood shootout. Petru and Iakob carried Makarov PM pistols, Emil carried a Luger P08, and Iakob also slung a PSL rifle across his back.

Before leaving on 23 December, Emil reviewed the assignments and designated a stolen white Mercedes-Benz Sprinter as their sole escape vehicle, with Petru driving and Emil loading the money. Expecting an employee to raise an alarm, he set 10:38 a.m. as the departure deadline, ordered the crew to leave with whatever money had been collected by then, and prepared primary and alternate routes from central Bucharest. Dirlewanger withheld help from his police contacts because he wanted to observe the Bucharest response. Emil based the deadline on his observations and previous robberies.

Robbery

At approximately 10:30 a.m., Petru, Iakob, and Emil entered the occupied public hall of the Unirii Central Branch in silence. Iakob immediately fired into the ceiling, copying the opening of the North Hollywood shootout because he had always admired Emil Mătăsăreanu. Petru then shouted, "Everyone down on the ground!"

At approximately 10:31 a.m., Iakob yelled at a customer who was approximately eight months pregnant to get down, then punched her and knocked her unconscious. The public hall contained 26 customers, eight employees, and two private security guards. Six more employees worked in the administrative and cash-processing areas alongside the branch manager and head cashier. After seeing Iakob's armour and weapons, both guards placed their sidearms on the floor and lay down with the customers.

Iakob remained in the public hall while Petru and Emil moved toward the branch's cash-processing area. He fired at ceiling fixtures, security cameras, counter partitions, and office furniture, and kicked customers who moved or raised their heads.

The gunfire alerted the branch's head cashier, who activated the silent alarm at approximately 10:31 a.m. and locked herself inside the counting office. At approximately 10:32 a.m., Petru and Emil seized the branch manager and forced him to lead them toward the cash-processing area. Emil broke the manager's nose, split his lip, and fractured two ribs before tearing the manager's keyring from his belt.

The manager's keys opened the staff doors, but the cash room required a second key held by the head cashier. Emil forced the manager to call her, but she remained inside the counting office as the departure deadline approached. After she unlocked the office, Emil choked her until she surrendered the key at approximately 10:35 a.m., then knocked her unconscious with his rifle stock before entering the cash room with Petru.

Emil selected approximately 40.6 billion old Romanian lei, €2.5 million, and US$1.6 million from the bundled cash. At the exchange rates current on the day of the robbery, the three currencies had a combined assessed value of approximately 180 billion old lei. Petru helped distribute the roughly 100-kilogram load among three duffel bags while guarding the manager and the unconscious head cashier. Petru and Emil moved the bags to the entrance by approximately 10:39 a.m., one minute beyond Emil's departure deadline.

Police response and escape

At approximately 10:39 a.m., the first police patrol reached the branch as Petru, Iakob, and Emil moved toward the waiting Sprinter. The officers took cover behind their patrol car. Iakob turned back toward the banking hall and reached for a child near the entrance, intending to use the child as a hostage against police fire, but Petru shouted at him to leave the child and get into the van. Iakob inserted a drum magazine into his PM md. 65 and fired through the patrol car while taunting the officers and shouting slurs. One officer was struck in the thigh and lower abdomen and suffered major blood loss. The other sustained gunshot wounds that shattered his shoulder and forearm, along with facial injuries from the patrol car's broken glass.

Despite his wounds, the second officer returned fire from the ground with his service pistol. One round struck Iakob's body armour without injuring him. Iakob continued taunting the wounded men until Petru called him back again, after which he climbed into the rear of the Sprinter with Emil and the duffel bags. Petru entered the driver's seat and pulled away at approximately 10:40 a.m.

Petru drove east along Bulevardul Unirii, passed through Piața Alba Iulia, and continued along Bulevardul Decebal to Piața Muncii. From there, he followed Bulevardul Basarabia to a Bucharest Butchers garage near the Republica industrial platform. Police reinforcements reached the branch at approximately 10:44 a.m. The crew completed the approximately nine-kilometre journey at about 10:57 a.m.

Aftermath

The robbers unloaded their weapons and the stolen currency inside the garage, where Emil counted the money. Afterward, Emil packed the Sprinter with straw, urinated over it "for good luck", and set it on fire. Dirlewanger retained 60% of the proceeds and divided the remainder equally among Petru, Iakob, and Emil, giving each robber cash worth approximately 24 billion old lei. He used the robbery to test Emil, followed by Petru in 2004 and Iakob in 2005, and admired Iakob's willpower during the confrontation with police.

The injured civilians and both police officers eventually recovered. On 24 December, Police Chief Commissioner Lucian Mureșan, acting for Dirlewanger, transferred the case files and ballistic evidence into central custody, removed the original investigators, and blocked searches of Bucharest Butchers properties. Police publicly described the investigation as active before suspending it. The three robbers were never connected to the crime, and none of the stolen money was recovered.

See also

• Bucharest Butchers
• Petru Ionuț
• Iakob Ionuț
• Emil Ionuț
• Oskar Dirlewanger
• North Hollywood shootout
• Banca Dâmbovița