Following the report by officials, two people were killed in a multimillion dollar theft that was thwarted at Chile’s busiest airport.
The Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago is the scene of a gunfight between robbers and representatives of Chile’s DGAC aviation agency, according to video that has been extensively posted on social media.
The “attack” claimed the lives of a DGAC airport security guard and one of the robbers, according to chief prosecutor Eduardo Baeza on Wednesday.
That occurred around 7:30 a.m. local time (5:50 a.m. ET).
The investigation into the attempted robbery is ongoing, said Baeza.
Officials said around 10 people broke into the airport in three or four trucks, targeting an armored vehicle carrying a “valued load” from a LATAM Airlines plane.
The plane, which had arrived from Miami, was carrying $32.5 million to be transported locally by security provider Brinks.
Speaking to reporters from the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, deputy interior minister Manuel Monsalve said security officials had “foiled a robbery by a highly organized, highly armed and probably very well-planned robbery.”
Raul Jorquera, general director of the DGAC, told reporters that no passengers were at risk during the encounter, and that the robbers had “high capacity firepower” to steal the money.
Organized crime in Chile has spiked in recent years, including elaborate train heists and multimillion-dollar robberies at the country’s main seaport.