Banco Provincia: between 130 and 140 safety deposit boxes broken into

The prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the robbery carried out at the Banco Provincia in Belgrano confirmed that the number of safety deposit boxes that were ransacked is between 130 and 140. Earlier, it was thought that the number was lower. Also, authorities confirmed that the incident may have occurred today, although some were saying that it had happened over the weekend.

The prosecutor spoke to the press outside of the bank, located at the intersection of Cabildo Avenue and Echeverría, adding that the culprits constructed a tunnel in order to reach the area where the safes were located. "Tools were found inside of the tunnel," he said.

The mentioned tunnel is 30 metres long. "At least three persons entered the tunnel on December 31 through an adjacent building" and "exited early in the morning" on January 3. Those involved had worked on the tunnel over a period of six months.

Earlier, sources from the bank informed that the sectors not affected by the robbery were 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20, 21, and 22. Those persons who had safety deposit boxes in affected sectors entered in groups of five to see what the extent of the damage was.

The alarm at the bank went off on two occasions last night and officers from Police Station 33 were sent to the scene; however, since nothing strange could be seen, one police officer stayed until bank authorities arrived this morning.

Sources explained that 134 out of a total of 1,408 safety deposit boxes were ransacked.

"The incident was discovered this morning and the police were notified immediately," a bank communiqué read.