Image via Complex Original
While nickel-and-dime crooks continue to partake in what’s been labeled "Apple Picking"—the art of targeting and stealing specific i-devices in public—a number of elite thieves are already planning the next big Apple heist. Last week’s controversial incident at JFK Airport, where nearly $2 million worth of iPad Mini devices were stolen from a cargo building, serves as proof. The robbery practically played out like a mafia film (take a lucky guess which one) and was obviously inspired by previously successful Apple burglaries. From retail break-ins to airport hanger stick-ups, these are the 10 Biggest Apple Heists Ever.
Ethan Hunt Wannabes Steal 20 MacBooks
Date: March 5, 2010
Est. monetary value: $26,000
A group of acrobatic thieves pulled off a Mission Impossible-esque caper at a Best Buy in South Brunswick, NJavoiding—avoiding all motion sensors, alarms, and cameras by entering the venue from the ceiling. How did they accomplish this exactly? By climbing to the roof via gas pipe, cutting a hole through the metal roof, and suspending themselves with a 16-foot rope making sure not to set off the ground sensors. All that work for 20 MacBooks appraised at a quarter of hundred grand.
175 iPods Go Missing From Florida Best Buy
Date: Dec. 11, 2006
Est. monetary value: $35,000
Back in the mid-2000s when iPods were the premier Apple product, unknown assailants snatched up 175 of the media players from a Best Buy in Pembroke Pines, Fl. With no signs of forced entry, police labeled the robbery an inside job. It's safe to assume the missing units were shopped online through eBay and Craigslist.
Apple Store Robbed in Indianapolis
Date: Oct. 24, 2012
Est. monetary value: $39,600
The Apple Store in the Fashion Mall in Indianapolis saw burglars take a sledgehammer to its glass windows and creep out with a number of items in less than 60 seconds. On the list: 18 MacBooks, 17 iPhones, and 14 iPads. Yet, all that missing merchandise summed up to just $40,000. Are they wholesaling Apple products out in Indy?
Best Buy Robbed of $40,000 In Apple Merchandise
Date: Oct. 24, 2012
Est. monetary value: $40,000
Six bandits broke into a Florida Best Buy by smashing the front glass window of the retail chain, lifting several iPads and iMacs in the process. The Ocoee Police Department found the culprit's getaway vehicles and discovered those were stolen as well, but the group was never found. They must have swapped out the cars for U-Hauls to carry all those iMacs.
191 iPhone 5s Lifted In Japan
Date: Sept. 21, 2012
Est. monetary value: $100,000
On the eve of the iPhone 5 launch, three burglaries took place in which 191 handsets were stolen from two major mobile carriers. The full breakdown consists of 33 units stolen from an Au store in Ibaraki City, Osaka; 116 units from a Softbank store in Western Osaka; and 42 units from another Au store. No arrests were made and Apple went on to restock both companies with new devices, but several Japanese customers were pissed about having to wait days to pick theirs up.
Fry's Electronics Gets Looted
Date: Aug. 9, 2012
Est. monetary value: $163,000
A Campbell Police report claimed two to five burglars pried open the front door of Fry’s Electronics, as well as the electronics cage inside and jacked over 300 Apple products. A majority of the items missing were iPads, iPhones, and iPods. Planning ahead, the suspects cut a hole in a fence located near a southbound highway, with two caught on camera returning for more goods later on that night. Guess divvyng up $163,000 between five wasn't enough for them.
O2 Employee Wanted For Massive iPhone 5 Theft
Date: Sept. 20, 2012
Est. monetary value: $240,000
The same day of the iPhone 5 launch, O2 employee Usman Sethi allegedly took 252 devices from the mobile provider’s Wimbledon store around 1:30 am. That's not all. Dude was also wanted for stealing cash from the company’s safe, as well as jewelry from his family’s house. No word yet on Sethi's capture, so until then, he's on the run eating with a large inventory of Apple's next-gen smartphones.
The i-Lufthansa Heist
Date: Nov. 12, 2012
Est. monetary value: $1.9 million
John F. Kennedy airport experienced a case of déjà vu when it discovered nearly $2 million worth in iPad Minis missing from the exact cargo building where the 1978 Lufthansa heist took place. For you adolescents out there, we’re talking about the same caper highlighted in the classic mob film GoodFellas. Thieves came through with a white tractor-trailer and stocked up on 3,600 tablets. The Feds just busted one JFK worker for assisting in the robbery and it's just a matter of time before they snatch of the others.
Brazilian Airport Jacked For $2 Milli in Apple Products
Date: Oct. 24, 2012
Est. monetary value: $2 million
According to reports, TAM airline employees were stuck up for $2 million in iPads and iPhones by a coalition of armed gunmen packing machine guns in a Brazilian airport. The robbery took place in a hanger that belonged to the Brazilian airline. More focus had been emphasized on whether the devices were manufactured in Apple’s Brazilian factories or had been imported. Either way you put it, consider that shipment long gone.
4,000 iPhones Taken From Belgium Warehouse
Date: Nov. 17, 2009
Est. monetary value: $3 million
A Netherlands-based logistics company called CEVA Logistics practically invited thieves to steal over 4,000 iPhones after storing them near the roof of its warehouse. Burglars climbed the building’s fire escape, reached the top floor, and cut a hole directly above crates storing the smartphones. While each unit carried a serial number and claimed to be unlockable, Belgium just so happens to be one of three countries in Eurpoe that sell iPhones without a SIM-lock. In other words, the thieves made a killing pushing them in batches of hundreds at lower prices on the Russian black market.
