A gun battle broke out at Santiago airport as a group of gunmen attempted to seize a large shipment of cash.
An attempted multimillion-dollar airport robbery in Chile has resulted in a shootout that has killed a suspected thief and an airport security officer.
The botched operation took place at the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in the capital, Santiago, on Wednesday morning. Between 10 and 12 robbers attacked when airport workers removed $32.5 million in cash from a plane.
“Valuable cargo arrived from Miami on a LATAM plane destined for the Brinks to take over [security] company, after which the subjects entered the area and were turned back by security officials,” said Eduardo Baeza, a prosecutor assigned to lead the investigation.
Organized crime has been a problem in Chile in recent years and the airport has been attacked in the past. In 2017, an armed group stole about $18 million, and three years later, a similar heist stole $15 million from an armored truck.
Deputy Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve told reporters Wednesday that security officials were involved in a shootout with the robbers, thwarting a “highly organised, highly armed and probably very well planned robbery”.
Authorities said one of the attackers and an airport security officer were killed.
Monsalve told reporters that the robbers tied up a security guard and entered the airport in three vehicles. The AFP news agency reported that the robbers breached a gate and headed to the cargo area, where they hoped to intercept the $32.5 million before being taken to the scene.
After being confronted by security officers, the gunmen reportedly fled and set fire to two of their vehicles on a nearby highway. The search for the perpetrators is ongoing.