A military-style

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

Prosegur Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad, S.A ("Prosegur") is a multinational security company, headquartered in Madrid, Spain. History Prosegur was founded in 1976 by Herberto Gut. It began as a private security company, with a particular focus on ...

’s office occurred in

Ciudad del Este Ciudad del Este (, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortered as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km from Asunción, the capital, and is a ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

's border town to Brazil, on April 24, 2017. The event has been termed “the robbery of the century” and “mega-robbery” by the media, and is the “biggest heist in Paraguay’s history". In the night, about 50 to 80 heavily-armed robbers closed off the perimeter of the office with cars and, during a three-hour assault, were reportedly able to access at least one of the three vaults of the company. One police officer was killed, and several people were wounded. The robbers were thought to have taken between 8 million to US$40 million. According to Prosegur, US$8 million were missing from one vault. Authorities have assumed that the robbers came from and returned to Brazil where an apparent staging house was found across the border in

Foz do Iguaçu Foz do Iguaçu (''Iguazu River Mouth'') () is the Brazilian city on the border of Iguaçu Falls. The city is the 7th largest in the state of Paraná. The city's population is approximately 258,000. It is approximately 650 km (400 mi) we ...

. A subgroup of the robbers was reported to be intercepted in Itaipulandia resulting in a gun battle during which three suspects were killed and four arrested. Additional suspects were arrested in Parana. Paraguayan police suspects that the

First Capital Command Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC; "First Command of the Capital", , 1533) is, according to a 2012 Brazilian Government report, the largest Brazilian criminal organization, with a membership of almost 20,000 members, 6,000 of whom are in prison. ...

(PCC), a criminal Brazilian gang, may be behind the robbery. Several police chiefs of Ciudad del Este were fired after the robbery by the interior minister.

References

{{reflist Ciudad del Este Violence in Paraguay Primeiro Comando da Capital 2017 in Paraguay 2017 crimes in Paraguay