Swiss Air and the Fed Lose $1.2 Million to Bold Heist or Carelessness
A shipment of $93 million in cash, traveling from Zurich to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, arrived with $1.2 million missing, according to ABC News. The shortage wasn't noticed till the Fed counted the money, which had left Switzerland on Saturday in three sealed crates bound for JFK Airport.
The security of the state-of-the-art sealed-crate transport system was possibly compromised, a source told ABC, by the fact that one of the crates had a big hole in it.
A forklift operator “opened the sealed crate and noticed damage to one of the crates in the form of a puncture from a forklift. It was a hole large enough to put your arm in.”
Saying that shipping containers often have gouges in them after years of use, the forklift operator told investigators he didn’t think the hole was something that needed to be reported. Under questioning, he acknowledged that the gouge was considerably larger than the norm.
It was large enough, apparently, for a dozen bundles of cash—each consisting of 1,000 $100 bills—to be stealthily removed through it. Or, who knows, maybe for the cash to fall out? If you flew from Zurich to JFK recently, have a look at your luggage.
[Photo via Getty]