اقتحموا خزينة البنك بدون كسر الباب وبدون نفق (كيف فعلوها؟)

The Benton Bank-Vault Burglary

In 1981, a customer’s safe-deposit-box lock broke when she tried to use it at a bank in Benton, Illinois. Bank staff discovered that 74 boxes had been emptied. The vault showed no obvious signs of a break-in, and more than $1 million in valuables had been stolen—estimated in the video at roughly $3.5 million today.

The thief was William Smart, an experienced burglar. He and an accomplice rented a safe-deposit box under a false name and made repeated visits to the bank. They built rapport with an employee while observing how the vault was managed.

Smart took advantage of a weakness in the bank’s procedures: staff checked customers as they entered, but did not reliably confirm that they had left. Over time, he smuggled in tools and supplies, hiding them in his box and above the vault’s false ceiling. He also disabled the vault’s sound alarms and used a test alarm clock to check whether other sensors would alert the police.

On a Saturday visit, Smart hid in a narrow space at the corner of the vault while his accomplice distracted the employee. After the bank closed, Smart emerged and spent the weekend breaking the boxes’ locks in a way that left them looking intact. On Monday, he waited until the employee had inspected the vault and left, then slipped out dressed like a maintenance worker, carrying the stolen goods. He made multiple trips without attracting attention.

Investigators later found that Smart had moved some valuables into boxes belonging to people he believed were in financial difficulty. The investigation initially produced few leads, but Smart was eventually connected to the burglary after he was caught hiding above the ceiling of another bank while attempting a similar crime. Matching methods—including an alarm clock and concealed tools—linked him to the earlier theft.

Smart was sentenced to 20 years. After confessing and returning most of the stolen property, his sentence was reduced to eight years. According to the video, his account prompted American banks to tighten vault-security standards, including eliminating false ceilings and concealed spaces.

Additional Information

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• Presenter: Badr (Badr Al-Alawi)