Armed thieves steal tablets, smartphones in Brazilian raid

A massive theft of tablets and smartphones took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, over the weekend and is thought to be one of largest crimes of its type to date.

Around 30 heavily armed men using a fleet of 18 vehicles raided the huge Centro Logistico Brasil (CLB) complex - an industrial park located in the Campinas area of Sao Paulo - and made off with the devices.

At the moment the precise volume and value of the haul has not been reported, but the CLB is one of the primary warehousing and logistics centres in Brazil for Spanish logistics provider Celistics which specialises in shipping services for many of the major consumer electronics manufacturers in Latin America.

Some local newspapers are reporting that the CLB handles more than 50 per cent of the entire distribution of phones and tablets sold in Brazil

The raid took place in the evening of February 16, when suspects claiming to be high level employees of a security company negotiated access to the property using a cloned security vehicle.

The remaining vehicles then followed the lead vehicle into the facility, and the riders - carrying machine guns, submachine guns and rifles - then overpowered and disarmed security personnel. Nobody was injured during the raid, according to local press reports.

The thieves were reportedly in the facility for around three hours and removed truckloads of consumer electronics. Local police are investigating the possibility that the raiders had inside information about the security procedures employed at the CLB.