Image by © Blue Lantern Studio/Corbis

A group of criminals known as the gang à l’aspirateur–or the “vacuum gang”–has been successfully robbing supermarkets since 2006, using nothing more than a drill and a vacuum.

Apparently this group of bandits has found a weakness in French supermarket chain Monoprix’s system of storing cash. GeekoSystem reports:

“Envelopes of cash are funneled [into the safe] via pneumatic suction tubes [by employees]. Whereas breaching the safe itself might be considerably difficult, requiring explosives or safecracking, the thieves realized that if they just drilled into the delivery tubes near the safebox and hooked up a powerful vacuum, they could suck the money out and get at it much more easily.”

The thieves are cleaning up big time with their vacuum scam; so far they’ve completed 15 robberies, making off with nearly 600, 000 Euros. (via GeekoSystem)