Remote Control Robber Sought John S. Burnett, Associate Editor
The FBI has issued a warrant for a fugitive in Portugal in an international bank robbery attempt. A botched "remote control" heist of the Commercial Bank of Florida in Miami Beach last spring ended with the arrest of one Portuguese national, who has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators. Paulo Manuel Da Silva Almeida, taken into custody after the failed holdup attempt, pointed to Allan Sharif as the "brains" behind the effort.
Court records indicate that Almeida entered the bank on March 27 with two cell phones. Sharif allegedly directed Almeida and bank employees by telephone from Portugal, demanding that a worthless $20,000 check be cashed. Sharif reportedly said he could see what was going on in the bank, and demanded that a bank teller give his partner $20,000. When police arrested Almeida in the bank lobby, Sharif allegedly called the bank again and threatened to kill hostages if Almeida were not released.
At the time of the incident, Miami Beach police believed that the calls were local, because the caller had such good information on what was happening at the bank. Because of the similarities in call patterns, the FBI is also investigating whether Sharif was involved in a series of bizarre overseas telephone scams targeting banks and stores across the U.S. this fall. Those incidents involved demands that large amounts of money be wire transferred to overseas accounts. In at least one of the wire transfer scams, customers took seriously the caller's demands that they strip off their clothes and flee the building.
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