France really does have the best thieves. This time, a group of bandits known as the "vacuum gang" has on a 15-store robbing spree using nothing but a drill and a powerful vacuum cleaner. It's Mission Impossible meets Martha Stewart.


The gang has been targeting Monoprix supermarkets since 2006, exploiting the same crucial vulnerability more than a dozen times. Because while Monoprix's safes are as secure as any other, cash envelopes are delivered to them via pneumatic tubes. A few years ago, some clever criminal realized it's much easier to drill into a tube than into a vault. According to Le Parisian:

To put it directly into the coffers of cash, cashiers using pneumatic suction pipes, where they slide tubes filled with money. The robbers realized that it was sufficient drilling a hole in the pipe near the trunk, then connect a powerful vacuum cleaner to capture the money stored. They no longer have to deal with the shield.


What's most surprising is that Monoprix doesn't seem to have made any effort to change their cash delivery method, despite it costing them nearly a million dollars in the last four years.

Police don't have any leads, other than some closed-circuit footage of men in ski masks. Which means Sir James Dyson has plenty of time to get his alibi in order. [Le Parisien via Geekologie]