Montreal armoured truck robberies from the past

Police have arrested three men for allegedly plotting to rob an armoured truck in Montreal.

Dec. 21, 2014: Thieves drove off with an unattended Garda armoured truck at 10:20 p.m. on a Sunday evening, after locking security guards inside of a bank at Galeries d'Anjou Blvd. and Jean Talon. The truck was recovered several blocks away but police did not reveal what had been taken.

Oct. 29, 2014: Two armed and masked suspects ambushed security guards outside a Bank of Montreal at Masson and 5th in Rosemont at 8 p.m. The thieves fled with a bag full of an undisclosed amount of money. No weapons were fired.

Feb. 1, 2014: A 32-year-old man was shot dead by an armoured truck guard outside a bank machine at 2145 Roland Therrien in Longueuil at 1:37 a.m. The man was alone and unarmed when he attacked the guards.

Dec. 12, 2013 Two suspects escaped after robbing a truck on St. Louis Rd. in St. Lazare. Three vehicles were later found torched.

June 16, 2013 Three men, aged 65, 63 and 62 faced charges for an attempt to rob an armoured truck in Point St. Charles. Police had been tipped off four months earlier.

Feb. 5, 2009 Montrealer Marcel Grignon, 59, and his four sons were charged with stealing $2.3 million from an armoured truck in Richmond Hill near Toronto. They were arrested in Montreal on April 29 after living a life of luxury and foreign travel.

July 5, 2008 Thieves sporting Halloween masks ambushed Garda security guards while picking up cash from St. Paul’s Church on Church St. in Cote St. Paul. Reports suggested that they got away with between $200,000 and $400,000.

Dec 23, 2007 Two armed men escaped with bags of cash taken from Securicor guards making a deposit just before midnight at a National Bank at Daniel Johnson and Carrefour in Chomedey, Laval

April 5, 2007 $60,000 was stolen from a Garda amoured vehicle outside the Caisse Populaire on Ste. Rose Bvld. Robbers fled in a minivan and later torched the vehicle.

Dec. 22, 2006 Two female Securicor guards shot and severely wounded a man outside a National Bank branch on Ste. Catherine at 1:45 a.m. The man, Pascal Beaudin, 23, leaped in front of them and one of the guards shot him twice in the legs and once in the testicles. The attacker was reportedly disoriented and possibly on drugs at the time.

Dec. 19, 2005 Robbers opened fire on a Securicor armoured truck in St. Sauveur. No suspects were found.

Sept. 16, 2005 A truck with a forklift attachment rammed a Garda truck at the Rockland shopping centre in TMR at 4:15 p.m. Thieves tossed money bags into a Chrylser Magnum and sped off. Garda said that the losses were minor.

Sept. 7, 2005 An estimated $35 million was taken from an armoured truck in Riguad. The truck was ambushed by heavily armed attackers at a fast-food restaurant in Riguard. The truck was not meant to stop on the road between Ottawa and Montreal. Two guards were taken hostage but freed later. Hells Angels were believed to be involved.

March 2001 Brothers Joseph and Norman Evrard attempted to steal $4 million from a Secur trucks back door by burning through with a torch in Dorval. But the fire alarm went off and doused the cash. Police picked them up later.

Feb 27, 2001 Thieves made off with $1.1 million in cash from the Marche Central. A tow truck rammed into the Secur truck outside the Costco on Acadie while guards were barricaded inside the store, as a white van blocked the entrance. The thieves emptied the armoured truck and torched their own truck and fled.

Aug 2, 2000 Thieves set off a decoy bomb in Ormstown and then targeted a Secur van in nearby St. Anicet, pepper spraying the guards and making off with cash.

25 Feb. 2000. Five heavily armed men were arrested while waiting to ambush an armoured truck outside of the Notre Dame Hospital on Sherbrooke. E.

Sept 2, 1999 A reported $3.7 million was stolen as Loomis agents delivered the cash to the Royal Bank on Sources in Pointe Claire. Thieves went after the driver while the guards were inside.

Nov. 24, 1994 Armoured truck guard Richard Lavallee, 43, was killed and partner John Roosen was shot and injured in an armoured truck attack outside of a Provigo on Monkland. The gunmen trapped the guards coming through the turnstiles and shot them repeatedly before fleeing out a back door into a minivan with an undisclosed sum. Claude Ranger, Kyle Below, Thomas James and Peter Pompeo were arrested and charged.

Dec. 1, 1990 $15.9 million in gold and securities was taken from armed guards in a Brink’s airplane at the Dorval – now Trudeau – Airport. Police solved the case after an informant shared information many years later.

March 1981 $2.4 million was taken from an armoured truck which had been left unlocked when two employees went to lunch in Montreal. The armed thief forced the driver out and abandoned the truck in an alleyway. Three suspects were arrested and charged two years later.

Aug. 15, 1979 An armoured car guard was killed and another seriously injured on the ground floor of the CBC Montreal headquarters in Montreal. An Alliance Blinde Ltee guard was killed and another seriously injured as thieves absconded with the money from the CBC employees credit union. Thieves forced a taxi driver to help them speed off.

Feb. 24, 1976 Millions - between $2.7 million and $10 million - was taken from a Brink’s truck when a van carrying a .50-calibre anti-aircraft gun blocked the truck and forced the driver to open the doors outside a Royal Bank branch in Old Montreal. A Brink’s employee later confessed to be part of the plot.

Sept 12. 1973 Brinks’ security guard Claude Vienneau, 35, was shot and killed behind a bank in St. Laurent in an afternoon shootout. His partner Robert Brunelle, 35, was shot in the leg but survived. A 30-year-old man was arrested soon after and police sought four or five others who escaped with 10 sacks of cash. A small delivery van rammed the armoured car from behind as the guards were carrying money to it from the bank and a second vehicle pinned the truck from in front.

July 19, 1967 Brink’s suspended payroll cheque cashing operations in Montreal in 1967 after thieves stole $952,000 in a series of thefts, mostly while police were distracted by Expo ’67. The robberies took place on July 22, 1966 ($77,000 at Crane Canada), February 23, 1967 ($21,000 in Dorval), Feb. 25, 1967 ($275,000 on Villeray St.), March 9, 1967 ($95,000 in Point St. Charles) and April 17, 1967 ($400,000 at the basement of Simpson’s downtown department store on St. Catherine).