Thief to Guards: We’re the Alarm Company, Please Ignore Any Alarm Tonight …

Posted by Alex in Crime & Law on June 5, 2008 at 1:06 pm


And now, a plot that is worthy of a Hollywood movie: Hours before a daring heist at the University of British Columbia, surveillance cameras mysteriously went off-line … then came a phone call:

Around the same time, a caller claiming to be from the alarm company phoned campus security, telling them there was a problem with the system and to ignore any alarms that might go off.

Campus security fell for the ruse and ignored an automated computer alert sent to them, police sources told CBC News.

Meanwhile surveillance cameras that were still operating captured poor pictures of what was going on inside the museum because of a policy to turn the lights off at night.

Then, as the lone guard working overnight in the museum that night left for a smoke break, the thief or thieves broke in, wearing gas masks and spraying bear spray to slow down anyone who might stumble across them.

Link (Photo: gold box by Bill Reid with a sculpted eagle on top, stolen from the museum)



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COMMENT

13 comments to "Thief to Guards: We’re the Alarm Company, Please Ignore Any Alarm Tonight …"

  1. Evil Pundit
    June 5th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    “Bear spray”?

  2. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    June 5th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    So that’s how they did it. The news here wasn’t very clear at first, leaving me to wonder if they’d even had a security system to guard the millions of dollars of artwork at all.

    I really hope they find the pieces. It would be such a shame if they were melted down for such a small amount of gold.

  3. Adam Stanhope
    June 5th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    I want to know where one gets “bear spray” and what it does. Does it get you loopy? If so, I’m in.

  4. Thomas
    June 5th, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Yeah, bear spray. Its like mace but for bears.

  5. Evil Pundit
    June 5th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    Oh. I was kinda hoping it was a pheromone spray that would soon have the museum full of amorous bears.

  6. sam
    June 5th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    Awesome - real life art thieves! I’m going to try this.

  7. plainswalker75
    June 5th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    re: Bear Spray

    According to Wikipedia:

    “In Canada all products with a label containing the words pepper spray, mace, etc, or otherwise originally produced for use on humans are classified as a restricted weapon[17]. Only Peace Officers, and individuals/corporations who have special government permits may legally carry or possess pepper spray. Any similar canister with the labels reading “dog spray” and/or “bear spray” may be legally carried by anyone. The legality of using spray intended for animal deterent on a person would be decided in court on a case-by-case basis.”

  8. Cassie
    June 5th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    Yeah you can buy bear spray at any camping supply store here in Canada. My sister used to carry a small vial of it around in her purse when she worked late at night downtown.

  9. Gerry
    June 5th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    I had a situation once where our department was working on a Saturday/Sunday and one of the dummies accidentally went out into the warehouse area and set the alarms off. We turned them off but a few minutes later the cops show up out front…and I stepped out and told them it was all OK. They didn’t ask for ID or anything and just went away.

    When I got back inside I told the crew, “That’s the way to rob a building… just be sure to wear a shirt and tie and look like you work there!”

  10. Lore
    June 5th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    Ingenious.

  11. FlappyGums
    June 5th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    plus, we also have bears in Canada.

  12. Eric
    June 5th, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    Oh hey I attend UBC! Its pretty weird that I haven’t heard of this story until I saw it on neatorama…I guess I should watch more news and surf the internet less >< Anyways I’m assuming that it was in our museum of anthropology which is a shame because it has some really nice stuff on display there…btw whats going on in Vancouver lately…like last month someone broke into the Vancouver Zoo and stole a monkey :( the RCMP needs to shape up

  13. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    June 10th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

    They’ve actually found them.

    http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/440252


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