One of Australia’s biggest bank robberies never solved‏

Alysha Aitken

Striking quietly and precisely, thieves got away with one of the biggest bank robberies in Australian history.

In November 1978, $1.7 million was stolen from the Murwillumbah branch of the Bank of New South Wales.

The Murwillumbah branch of The Bank of New South Wales where the Magnetic Drill Gang stole $1.7 million. Picture: HWT Library Source: HWT Image Library

Police said the money, in used notes, from $50 to $1, was almost untraceable.

Although the robbers were never caught, it was suspected The Magnetic Drill Gang was responsible for the carefully planned heist.

The group of thieves were suspected of committing at least 14 other raids on banks, using their signature tool, an electromagnetic drill, to break into safes.

The circular electromagnet is clamped on to the side of the safe, holding in place a powerful drill that  makes a hole just above the tumblers of the lock.

The gang then uses a medical cystoscope to look through the drill hole.

An attachment allows the operator to move the tumblers and open the safe.

Police say Graham “The Munster” Kinniburgh was the mastermind behind The Magnetic Drill Gang and was considered the most influential gangster in Victoria at the time.

Before the Murwillumbah raid, it was reported the gang had made more than $1 million from robberies in Melbourne and Sydney.

Their two largest hauls were $350,000 from an American Express office in Melbourne and $250,000 worth of rings, earrings, diamonds and gold from a manufacturing jeweller, also in Melbourne.

Deputy Chief of the CIB, Supt Bill Holmes, told the Sydney Morning Herald on November 24 1978, the Murwillumbah theft was consistent with at least nine other robberies in Victoria by the Magnetic Drill Gang.

The Murwillumbah robbery would have taken several hours to complete.
While one thief worked on disconnecting the combination lock of the vault, another cut a hole through to the second floor of the bank.

A diagram showing the tactics used by the Magnetic Drill Gang in one of Australias biggest bank robberies. Picture: The Herald Source: HWT Image Library

Police believe this was an escape exit in case the thieves were disturbed.

Det-Sgt Bob Jackson of Murwillumbah told the Sydney Morning Herald on November 24 1978, the theft was “a very professional operation and had been well planned.”

The robbery was not discovered until 7.30am the next day, when a security guard patrolling the bank found the back door open and the safe drilled.

After locksmiths of the Chubb Vault Company, flown from Brisbane, worked unsuccessfully on the door for five hours, police called in an engineer and workmen from the Tweed Shire Council to break in through the vault wall.

The workmen used drills and sledgehammers to smash a hole through four layers of bricks and then used a diamond-tipped drill to cut through the steel wall of the vault.

The hole created by workmen in the strongroom to confirm the thieves had stolen the lot. Picture: The Herald Source: HWT Image Library

It took bank officers and police nine hours to confirm the robbers had taken the lot, $1.7 million in cash, packed in cardboard cartons.

Police were able to prepare two identikit pictures of men wanted for questioning over the robbery.

They had been seen near the bank at about 9.30pm.

Detectives believed the men had probably used the Gold Coast as their base.

A reward was offered but nobody was ever charged over the 1978 robbery.

For the Herald Sun’s True Crime Scene