Bandits have raided a Samsung factory and stolen $36 million in goods

A group of bandits robbed a Samsung factory in Brazil last night, escaping with seven trucks filled of goods from the smartphone and notebook computer manufacturer. Reuters reports the factory in Campinas was robbed just before midnight, with 20 robbers, some armed, posing as employees. According to the police report that was dictated to Reuters, the culprits carjacked a shuttle and used it to gain entrance into the facility. The vehicle housed eight employees, but six were removed and set free in a remote location. Once inside the building, seven armed bandits disarmed the security guards and gathered the employees in order to prevent contact with the outside world. This included removing the batteries from the phones. A Samsung spokesperson said approximately 100 employees were present at the time, though the robbery is said not to involve violence.

Bandits attacked a Samsung Electronics Co Ltd factory near Sao Paulo late Sunday and held workers hostage while they robbed truckloads of smartphones, tablets and notebook computers that police valued at $36 million. The dramatic heist, carried out by armed robbers who carjacked a shuttle used by factory employees, took place overnight during nearly four hours in Campinas, an industrial hub in the southeastern state of Sao Paulo. A spokesman for the state’s public security secretariat said the bandits made off with seven trucks laden with more than 40,000 Samsung products. State police are investigating the attack, he added, but said no suspects have yet been identified. A spokesman for Samsung in Sao Paulo confirmed the heist but said police estimates for the value of the stolen goods were too high. He said roughly 100 employees were present at the factory during the robbery, but declined to give further details. “We have cooperated fully with the police investigation that is underway and will do our best to avoid any sort of repeat incident,” said Samsung Eletronica da Amazonia Ltda., the manufacturing unit of the Korean electronics giant in Brazil, in a statement. The police report, as related to Reuters by the spokesman for the state security secretariat, reads like the script of a daring crime movie. After stopping the shuttle on its way to the factory, 7 armed assailants took over the vehicle while colleagues took all but two of the eight employees originally on board to a remote location, where they were set free.