WAR: Iraq: Suspected Rebels Steal $US13.5 million.

A group of armed men have stolen 17.6 million Iraqi dinars after locking all employees in a room of the Rashid bank. The bank is located in the restive capital, Ramadi.




I find it interesting that no employees were harmed in any way. Could this be a new tactic by insurgents and/or B'aath loyalists.

If they can steal so much 'new currency' the Iraqi interim government may be forced to change small details on the dinars in order to make the stolen money worthless.

That's a heck of a lot of cash right there....they probably didn't shoot any one for more of a discreet heist with no shots going off and people being alerted to the situation.

That's actually 19.75 billion Iraqi dinar not $17.6 million.
13,500,000 US = 19,750,500,000 Iraqi Dinars. (Currency Converter)

That's a lot of cash to carry around.

[edit on 13-1-2005 by AceOfBase]

$13.5mil.... over there would get you:

- 13.5 million Zam-Zam/Upper 7 2-liter colas, or PS1 games

- 2.7 million whole rotisserie chicken dinners, PS2 games, or Iraqi prostitutes (although not one you’d want to take home to Mom)

- 1.7 million DVDs (half of which would be filmed in the theater)

- 169 Mercedes-Benzs

- 900K custom Iraqi soccer jerseys, with your number and name in Arabic

- 135 million falafels



-Nate

My take on this is that the insurgents are running out of cash. This little robbery should keep them in bomb making materials for quite a while.

Since the enemy of the insurgents is the US Army, not Iraqi bank tellers, I'm not surprised that none were killed during the heist.

Of course what you can also take from this is that they have spent all of Saddam's money already, and now they need more.

I though the dinars had not value outside the Iraqi borders.

In order to make it work you have to turned to be change into American dollars.

Anyway how do they know they are "Rebels" and not just local Iraqi robbers.

Perhaps it was plan by the people that work in the bank who knows.

Remember "Rebels" "insurgents" and whatever are evil they kill and leave not body behind.

They kill Iraqi traitors. At least the Iraqi insurgents do. The foreigners in Iraq will probably kill just about anyone.

If you were trying to liberate your country from a foreign agressor, would you kill your own people to do it?

Just trying to put myself in someone else's shoes here.