Colombian Thieves Get Away With $30 Million

BOGOTA, Colombia —  Thieves stole nearly $30 million in peso currency from a branch of Colombia’s Central Bank in one of the biggest heists in the country’s history, the bank said Wednesday.

But more than half of the loot--about 18.5 billion pesos--was in crisp new bills of various denominations that were never issued and are considered worthless, the bank said in a statement.

Police said a group of gunmen entered the Valledupar branch in northern Colombia last weekend, tied up the guards, knocked out the security system of alarms and closed-circuit television cameras and broke into the safe using an acetylene torch.