Expert Opinion on Robbery of Safe

[dynamica]

Hello,

Background: A neighbor was home invaded, beaten, held for two hours while the six robbers breached his safe, stole the contents and finally left. The victim is okay now after 8 days in the hospital.

I am trying to determine who could have opened the safe. Please see the photo below. Judging by the photo, how much experience with safes would have been required to do what they did? Is this something an amateur could have researched online and accomplished on their first try?

It doesn't look like they made many errors. From my neighbor's recount the only thing they struggled with was that they needed more discs for the grinder and had to send out for more.

I assume that the pros on this site have seen plenty of amateur openings and can shed some light.



Any expert help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[MartinHewitt]

It is not the typical burglary opening, because the handle is still there. Can you give some information about the safe model? Does it have two combination locks? (Won't discuss the methods here in the open side of the forum.) My guess is they did know how a safe generally works, did think about what to do, made a plan and tried it. From this photo I am not sure from this photo if this plan failed because of the construction of the door and they had to try something different. The method they tried is not what a real safe tech would have done, but what a clever and/or experienced burglar would have done.

[dynamica]

Can you give some information about the safe model? Does it have two combination locks?

Thanks for the reply.

The thieves were successful in opening the safe, just to clarify.

Below is a link to a similar safe made by a local company. The main difference between the safe on the page and the actual one is that the actual one does have two combination dials.

https://www.sterlingsafe.com.mx/single.php?cve=537

[billdeserthills]

No actual safe tech would do an opening like that because it leaves no way to professionally repair the safe

When a professional opens a safe, they want their repair to be unseen, which is why most modern safes are drilled under the dial ring. That way when after the safe has been opened & the safe is repaired, it will still look like new

Whoever opened this safe used an angle grinder with a cut off wheel, they didn't care if the safe would be unusable afterwards because they were thieves

Funny thing about jail is the instruction learned about crime, I wouldn't doubt some or all of these criminals were repeat customers

Looks like after cutting the combo locks out they spent some time with a screwdriver to force the blocking boltwork back, as cutting the lock out isn't enough to open a safe

[dynamica]

No actual safe tech would do an opening like that because it leaves no way to professionally repair the safe

When a professional opens a safe, they want their repair to be unseen, which is why most modern safes are drilled under the dial ring. That way when after the safe has been opened & the safe is repaired, it will still look like new

Whoever opened this safe used an angle grinder with a cut off wheel, they didn't care if the safe would be unusable afterwards because they were thieves

Funny thing about jail is the instruction learned about crime, I wouldn't doubt some or all of these criminals were repeat customers

Looks like after cutting the combo locks out they spent some time with a screwdriver to force the blocking boltwork back, as cutting the lock out isn't enough to open a safe

Thanks for the reply.

I understand from your words that it wasn't a safe tech because they didn't show any respect for the unit. Also, I assume that drilling the way you mentioned would have been faster as well.

So there where locking devices where the shafts for the dials were cut off? Sorry for my lack of a better term.

Any clue what they were doing with that little rectangle cut out from the top right?

I appreciate all the help.

[MartinHewitt]

Maybe they had to remove the dials, so that they could remove the chunk they had cut out. Or maybe they just gave in to the urge of a burglar to knock of the dials.

I don't think we should dive much deeper into burglary methods.

[Squelchtone]

Ouch, pains me to see this kind of violence against a nice safe.

Amateur hour.

And I agree with Martin, sorry OP we cannot go into full detail, theoretical or otherwise about the exact methods used or speculation as to what this cut means and what that hole means.

We don't want to turn your post into a How To Guide with pictures.

Make sure this is reported to the police in your area, they may have other burglaries where the criminal used the exact same methods.

Squelchtone

[dynamica]

Ouch, pains me to see this kind of violence against a nice safe.

We don't want to turn your post into a How To Guide with pictures.

Squelchtone

Thanks.

The incident has been reported to the police.

The absolute last thing I would want is for any thief and possibly killer to use any information from this post that would put any ideas in their head.

If anyone wants to PM me with anything I am all ears.

[dynamica]

Again, thanks for all your help. We know now that this was not the work of a safe tech.

For the record, here's a shot of the parts that were found. I know they sent out for discs. I am not sure if the one shown is orginal or the second batch.

[MartinHewitt]

Interesting that the manufacturer made holes in the second sheet where the screws and spindles were located. Makes probably taping easier.

[nothumbs]

Curious if you could provide how much time it took them to breach the safe. While few home safes are going to withstand this level of violence, it would be informative to learn how long it held up.

I assume the injuries to the victim were a wrench attack to obtain the combination.

[dynamica]

Curious if you could provide how much time it took them to breach the safe. While few home safes are going to withstand this level of violence, it would be informative to learn how long it held up.

I assume the injuries to the victim were a wrench attack to obtain the combination.

We estimate it took them 90 minutes of actual work on the safe to get it open.

Yes, he was tortured in an attempt to gain access. Also, beaten later for no reason.

[nothumbs]

So very sorry to hear that. Personally I would give up the combination in a heartbeat. I've nothing in my safe worth getting hospitalized but then that may be a reflection of my net worth.

[MartinHewitt]

A friend was trapped by a gang of robbers at a highway parking place. He was beaten heavily to disclose his bank card PIN, which he sooner or later did. Unfortunately he as found to late and was already dead. The robbers were caught one or two years later an are now in jail. Because the court though the death was not intentional they won't be that many years in jail as one would wish.

Did service a safe earlier this year. The owners were once robbed at home. They were very cooperative and tried to open the safe for the robbers, but due to the stress they were not able to open the mechanical combination lock. The robbers tried themself to dial the combo but did also not succeed. Then a persistent caller let ring the bell for a long time and the robbers fled. Fortunately they did not do much bodily harm.

[Safecrackin Sammy]

Hope your neighbor is doing better.

IMHO this was a set up.

Six guys show up equipped and open the safe in less than two hours with a break for more wheels. They knew the safe was there and it was worth their while.

They werent safe techs, but a robber like this approaches the job from a completely different perspective than we would. They had some knowledge either of this safe or previous successful jobs on other random safes.

I would take a strong look at who would know that the safe was there and its contents.

Dont take this personally as is just objective, but was the whole event staged for insurance purposes etc.?