BRASILIA, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Thieves assaulted a Central Bank vault in the city of Fortaleza in Ceara state of Brazil, getting away with about 65 million US dollars, said the police on Monday.

    Should this number be confirmed, the assault over the weekend would be the biggest one in the history of Brazil.

Photographers look down into the tunnel that the police believe was dug by thieves to enter a bank and steal $68 mln in the biggest bank heist in Brazil's history August 8. (AFP)

    In order to enter into the vault, the thieves dug up a 200-meter-long, 4-meter-deep tunnel from a neighboring house and the stealing was discovered on Monday.

    According to the Central Bank, the 500-square-meter vault is surrounded by two-meter-thick reinforced concrete walls.

    The police estimated that 6 to 10 individuals were involved in the theft and it is not yet known whether the video cameras of the bank recorded anything.

    The biggest bank robbery in Brazil occurred in July 1999, when nearly 20 armed men raided a branch of the Sao Paulo State Bank by night, getting away with 16.9 million dollars. Enditem

Brazilian federal police officers inspect the starting point of the tunnel. (AFP)