Pablo Escobar was one of the most feared and famous people in Colombia’s history. He started the Medellín Cartel in 1976 and became rich by smuggling huge amounts of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. Because of this, he was called the King of Cocaine. By the 1980s, his wealth was over 25 billion dollars, making him one of the richest men in the world. But few people know that he was also linked to one of Britain’s biggest robberies involving the Bank of England.
In 1990, a simple-looking street mugging in London ended up costing the Bank of England almost 300 million pounds. This story was later explored by Marcel Theroux in a show called “Heist: Robbing the Bank of England.”
From the late 1970s until the early 1990s, Escobar controlled the movement of tons of drugs from Colombia to the United States. He made unbelievable profits, but at the same time, he made many powerful enemies. The police and politicians started turning against him, and Escobar began using violent methods to protect his empire. He was believed to be behind deadly bombings, including Avianca Flight 203 and the DAS Building, both of which were failed attempts to kill his enemies.
By 1990, his popularity had collapsed. Around the same time in Britain, a group of clever criminals came up with a plan to steal bearer bonds from the Bank of England. Bearer bonds were like paper certificates that could be traded or used like cash, and whoever held them owned their value. The plan was simple. A man would attack a courier carrying these bonds through the streets of London and steal them.
This crime came to be known as the City Bonds Robbery. It happened on a quiet morning in May 1990. The robbery was made to look like a small street theft done by an ordinary criminal who had no idea what he had stolen. But in reality, a powerful British crime group was behind it. They knew they had to act quickly because the authorities could cancel the stolen bonds, making them worthless.
The plan was to move the bonds out of England and into other countries where they could be exchanged or laundered. First, they tried sending them to Zürich, but that plan failed. So they divided the 301 stolen bonds into smaller groups and sent them to different places around the world. The New York mafia became interested in helping, and soon, Pablo Escobar’s name also got connected to the crime.
In New York, a man named Mark Osborne, who was a former bond dealer, became the middleman between the British gang and the American mafia. He went to a bar in New York to deliver ten bonds to a man named Tony Dipino, who he thought was a member of the mafia. But Dipino was actually an undercover FBI agent. He secretly collected all the information needed to arrest Osborne and expose the network behind the robbery.
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It is said that Escobar was also sent some of the stolen bonds, but they never reached him. According to author Clifford Thurlow, who wrote the book “How to Rob the Bank of England,” the bonds meant for Escobar were hidden inside two telephone books. These books were sent to an address in Peru where Escobar was supposed to collect them. However, before he could get them, the packages were stopped by customs officers in Miami.
Escobar had a special liking for bearer bonds. He often used them to buy rare and exotic animals for his private zoo, which was located in his Hacienda Nápoles estate in Colombia. After his death in 1993, the estate was demolished, but many of the animals remained. In fact, hippos that lived there multiplied and can still be found in the area even today, long after Escobar’s time.
After the robbery, things began to fall apart for the people involved. The FBI put heavy pressure on Mark Osborne, and he agreed to work with them. He gave them information about the gang that planned and carried out the theft. But despite all the efforts of the police, only one man named Keith Cheeseman was convicted for his part in the robbery.
Even though Escobar’s name was mentioned in connection with the bonds, there was never any solid proof of his direct involvement. Most of the focus remained on the British and American criminals who handled the stolen certificates. Still, the idea that the world’s most famous drug lord could have been linked to such a massive British bank robbery has kept people curious for decades.
Escobar’s own story ended in tragedy. After being imprisoned in Colombia, he escaped in 1992 and spent more than a year hiding from the police. His enemies and law enforcement chased him constantly. Finally, in December 1993, he was found on a rooftop in Medellín. A gunfight broke out, and Escobar was shot dead. His death marked the end of one of the most dangerous criminal empires in history.
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The Bank of England robbery remains one of the most mysterious and daring financial crimes ever attempted. It involved organized crime across several countries, deception, and international smuggling. The stolen bonds were worth hundreds of millions of pounds, but most of them were never recovered.
Even after many years, the story still fascinates people because it connects two worlds — the polished world of banking and the dark world of international crime. Whether or not Pablo Escobar truly had a hand in it may never be fully proven, but his name continues to echo through this story as a symbol of power, greed, and the limits of law.
Escobar’s life showed how one man’s hunger for wealth and control could shape an entire era of crime and fear. From drug trafficking to secret deals and possibly even the Bank of England robbery, his influence spread far beyond Colombia. And though he met a violent end, the tales about him continue to capture the world’s imagination, reminding everyone that crime, no matter how powerful it becomes, always comes to an end.
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