On January 13, 2006, specifically in the city of Acassuso near the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, an armed robbery took place at the largest bank in Argentina. The gang entered the bank and took employees and customers hostage. After about fifteen minutes, it seemed as if the plan had failed; one of the robbers took a hostage and tried to escape but was surprised to find the police had surrounded the building. With no other option, he returned inside, waiting for his inevitable fate with his accomplices.

However, everything was part of a meticulously planned operation, much like the series “La Casa de Papel.” The gang leader was orchestrating what later became known as the smartest robbery in history, called “The Heist of the Century.”

The story began on May 15, 2005, when Fernando Araujo visited his psychologist and told him he wanted to do something to restore his passion for life. When asked what he planned to do, he said he wanted to rob a bank. The doctor laughed, thinking it was impossible, but Araujo was serious and had already started planning.

Araujo was highly intelligent, working as a legal procedures agent and also an actor. He began scouting banks on his motorcycle around Acassuso. The bank that caught his attention was Banco Río, a large and very popular bank where about 80% of Argentines kept their money. The bank offered a special feature: safe deposit boxes to store valuables like gold, jewelry, diamonds, and cash.

He considered two methods: a direct armed attack to steal from the employees’ safes, which was limited to $10,000 per safe and carried a high risk with little reward, or breaking into the safe deposit vault at night to steal everything. The latter promised huge gains but seemed nearly impossible due to security cameras and heat sensors directly connected to the city police.

Despite these challenges, he kept thinking of a way to enter the bank unnoticed. He first considered digging a tunnel under the bank, but this would require months of work and was likely to be discovered.

Then, by chance, he noticed many sewer covers on the road near the bank, spaced about 10 meters apart. Tracing these, he realized that the main sewer ended in a large square opening about 160 meters from the bank’s vault, giving him a direct underground route.

He spent 35 days planning the approach and recruiting a team. His first recruit was Sebastián Bolster, an electronics and mechanical engineer who hated banks due to his family losing everything when their bank went bankrupt. They agreed to call each other by nicknames: Araujo became “The Leader,” and Sebastián “The Engineer.”

They studied the sewer and bank layout for a week. The engineer posed as a wealthy client wanting to store 6 kilograms of gold, using a hidden camera to film inside the vault. After realizing they needed significant funding, the Leader contacted a third member known only as “The Doctor,” a well-connected intellectual who assembled the rest of the team.

The team included “The Financier” (Beto Latorre), a skilled con artist and expert in persuasion; “The Fierce One” (Luis Silans), a former criminal with multiple prison sentences; and finally “The Kid,” an unknown but trusted associate.

The Doctor provided detailed city maps, and The Fierce One managed to secure the exact floor plans of the bank itself. The plan was to dig a tunnel about 30 meters from the sewer to the vault. The expected digging time was about two months.

Meanwhile, the Engineer developed a special heat-insulating suit to avoid detection by heat sensors. However, the suit was too heavy and restricted movement, so the team reconsidered their entry strategy.

The Leader proposed a bold and risky plan: enter the bank through the main door wearing disguises and escape through the tunnel. This required carrying weapons, which the Leader initially opposed but later allowed as long as the weapons were fake, which the Financier supplied.

The Engineer also invented a device called “The Gun,” a powerful compressed air tool designed to break any lock within seven seconds.

On January 13, 2006, their plan began. A vintage Volkswagen arrived at the bank entrance, and four men dressed in gray uniforms with black ski masks and blond wigs entered. Inside, they took control and took everyone hostage, acting nervously to give the impression that the plan was failing.

Meanwhile, the Engineer entered through the sewer tunnel with equipment to break through the wall leading to the vault. After about fifteen minutes, the police had surrounded the bank.

One of the robbers, The Financier, took a hostage outside, pretending to try to escape but was stopped by the police and forced back inside, reinforcing the illusion that the plan was collapsing.

The security guard in the surveillance room was forced out at gunpoint to stop informing the police, and his phone was used to negotiate with the police. Once the cameras were disabled, the Engineer was given the signal to break through the vault wall.

Inside the vault, The Engineer and The Doctor started breaking into the safe deposit boxes with their device while The Leader, The Financier, and The Fierce One controlled the hostages and distracted the police.

They demanded pizza be delivered to the bank to satisfy the robbers and gain more time. The police agreed, which bought the gang another 40 minutes.

Once the robbery was complete, the gang packed the stolen items into large bags and threw them into the sewer tunnel, where The Engineer and The Doctor loaded them onto inflatable boats. They planted a fake bomb at the vault door and left their weapons on a cloth to make it look like a messy exit.

They escaped through the sewer to a sewer cover about 200 meters from the bank, where The Kid waited with the modified Volkswagen car with a trapdoor underneath. They drove off and returned to the Financier’s home.

They watched the news on TV, surprised that the police had not yet entered the bank. Two hours later, the police finally stormed the bank, only to find the robbers gone.

The weapons left behind were children’s toys, and the bomb was fake — all carefully planned to buy time and avoid serious charges.

The robbers divided the money and agreed never to meet again.

However, the Financier’s wife took three bags worth about $100,000 without permission. After a violent argument, she reported the whole operation to the police.

The police arrested the Financier, then The Leader, The Engineer, and The Fierce One. The Doctor and The Kid fled abroad.

The total value of the stolen money remains unknown, with none recovered. The bank absorbed the losses.

Sentences ranged between 9 and 15 years, but none served more than three years, as public sympathy and legal defense campaigns helped secure their early release.

Afterward, their story was turned into a successful action-comedy film. They even donated 30% of the film’s profits to the bank as compensation.

Thus, the “Heist of the Century” was recorded as the smartest robbery in human history.