Always keep an eye out for, or open in this case, suspicious activity when you are in possession of valuables. Everything might disappear in the blink of an eye, especially if you are a Brink’s armored trailer driver. 

The Brink’s security company faces a million-dollar problem. Last July 11, one of their armored vehicles was burglarized. The incident happened early in the morning in south Central Valley, California.

Two Brink’s drivers were on their way to the Pasadena Convention Center, located northeast of Los Angeles. They loaded jewelry from 14 jewelry retailers who had presented their goods at the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo, San Francisco. On their way, they stopped at a Flying J Truck Stop in Lebec, California, where one of the drivers went out to get food. The other one fell asleep while he was inside the vehicle. The first driver returned 27 minutes later, only to find the seal on the trailer had been cut and that some of the valuables they were carrying had been stolen. There were no surveillance cameras in the vehicle’s location.

Reports state that 22 bags of jewelry (out of 72 bags on the truck) were stolen, worth millions of dollars. According to the jewelry clients, the stolen goods were worth more than $100 million. Dana Callahan, a spokesperson for Brink’s, said the items were only worth around $8.7 million.

In a statement, Brink’s said that based on their records, the declared amount by the retailers did not match the amount that was being requested by them. Brandy Swanson, the Brink’s director, shared that the inconsistency could be due to the misdeclaration of goods that can happen when vendors cannot afford the full insurance. The customers will be fully reimbursed for the value that was declared, as per their contract with the company, but the jewelers have filed a lawsuit for negligence and breach of contract.

The jewelers are distressed with the incident. Several of them largely depend on the goods for their main source of income. One customer, who chose to remain anonymous, shared “that’s how I live. That’s how I feed my kids.” 

If the $100 million value is correct, the heist would be one of the biggest jewelry thefts ever recorded.