A man has been arrested in Ecuador accused of stealing an 86lb (36kg) bucket of gold flakes worth $1.6m (£1.2m) from a truck in New York.
Julio Nivelo, 53, was detained in the west of the country. His lawyers say he was not even in the US at the time of the theft.
Video footage captured the incident last year, showing a man struggling with the weight of the loot and having to put it down to rest.
The gold is yet to be recovered.
Police said the gold flakes were in an unmarked, sealed black aluminium metal bucket.
Surveillance video showed the theft took place in just 20 seconds while the armoured truck was briefly unattended. The suspect appeared to be loitering near the truck in busy Midtown Manhattan on 29 September 2016 when one of the guards left the armored truck to make a delivery. The truck was left unattended in front of 48 West 48th St. between 5th and 6th avenues. A second guard stepped away to retrieve his mobile phone from the front seat of the truck. It was at this point when the thief seized the moment and made off with the bucket down West 48th Street.
The video footage further showed the man struggle to carry the container holding the gold flakes as he made his escape through the crowded streets of Manhattan, pausing to catch his breath from the weight of the gold, before he disappeared. The video surveillance showed the thief took an hour to haul the bucket on what would usually be a ten minute walk.
Be the first to comment