Karl Stagno-Navarra Detailed investigations into the daring Casinò di Venezia heist last Tuesday night, are leading police to believe that military personnel may have been part of the gang that allegedly made off with €500,000 in cash.
According to sources, the physical build, speed and a certain ‘jargon’ used by at least two of the five men who entered the Casinò di Venezia on the Vittoriosa waterfront, “must be or were in the military service”.
During a reconstruction of the events that unfolded in just four minutes, at about 7:30 pm last Tuesday, police have understood that military training was evident in some of the men involved, given that video footage taken from CCTVs positioned around the casino revealed military-style tactics in assault and handling of weapons.
One witness revealed that he was confronted by one of the thieves who shouted out in English, “Hold it there, I will fire!”
These particular words – “I will fire” – are said to have strengthened the investigators’ thesis that some of the men have a military background, given that the word “fire” when dealing with weapons is commonly used in the military, rather than the populist word “shoot”.
Apart from this, the CCTV footage gave investigators the opportunity to study the getaway aboard a speedboat out of the marina. The footage reportedly shows the five men run out of the casino and “jump” onto the boat which had its outboard engine already started.
The way the men jumped onto the boat and managed to keep their balance on the swaying craft and duck under a canopy is another piece of evidence that investigators are looking into.
“It is definitely not an Italian job,” as some foreign media have suggested, a senior police officer told MaltaToday, adding that casino employees were spoken to in clear Maltese and in only one circumstance, when one patron was apparently attempting to flee the commotion in shock and taken for a foreigner and was spoken to in English.
Police are said to have arrested and interrogated the security guard at the Vittoriosa gate that leads into the waterfront area where the Casinò di Venezia is situated.
Nobody, accept for the owner of the stolen Mitsubishi Pajero car that brought the five thieves to the proximity of the casino, was apparently let in to the private access road that evening. The car was pushed into the water shortly after it had passed through the gate and the men got out of it.
The guard is suspected to have been a link to the gang given that CCTV footage shows him behave in an agitated manner well before the heist took place.
Police investigators explained that the CCTV footage clearly shows that the men involved in the heist knew exactly what they wanted and where they had to go to get the money.
While one man stood with a white coloured pistol near the reception desk in the doorway, another two men positioned themselves downstairs to control the patrons and security personnel by the slot machine area, while another two went right upstairs.
One of them went straight to the cash desk and was given a bag with the money, while the other covered his back while he received it. All five escaped well coordinated and covering each other in what was apparently a well rehearsed operation.
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