In Victoria's biggest armoured van robbery $2.3m was stolen from a van in Harcourt Pde, which joins Punt Rd to the South Eastern Freeway, in June 1994.

Five robbers, armed with a handgun, posed as street workers and stopped the van. 

In a well rehearsed heist, one of the robbers unlocked the back door of the van with keys the gang had commissioned a locksmith to cut.

The robbers were dressed in council vests and overalls and stormed the armoured van in broad daylight on the busy thoroughfare, trussing up three guards before hijacking the vehicle and the cash.

Most of the $2.3 million was untraceable bank notes.

The robbery took just under 30 seconds

For the Armaguard crew of three - a driver, a crew leader and a rear guard - it was just another mid-morning on Punt Road that day.

The traffic heading on to the South Eastern Arterial wasn't too thick as the Nylex clock hit 10:30.

The three had driven this same Wednesday route scores of times, knowing it to be the quickest and safest trip from the Reserve Bank in the city to their Carrum Downs depot.

But this day would prove different.

Unbeknown to the guards, a ute was stealthily tailing their money-laden van.

Investigating detectives believe the Armaguard van was "hot" as soon as it left the Reserve Bank, and that the driver of the ute - no doubt armed with a police scanner and two-way radio - must have been in constant contact with his cohorts who by that stage had set themselves up as a work crew at a bogus roadblock in Harcourt Pde.

Carrying two crates packed with $2.3 million in new and old bank notes, the van turned left off Punt Rd into Harcourt Pde with the intent of merging into traffic on the South Eastern Arterial.

But they never made it.

They were stopped by the bogus roadwork gang about 100 metres short of the freeway.

The robbery was planned to the finest detail, right down to the workers' vests, overalls, hardhats, "stop" sign and petrol-driven cutting machine.

One robber even stood with a broom and placed witches' hats next to their white getaway van on the Yarra side of the road.

Detectives say the raid could have been rehearsed many times over a period as long as a year.

Witnesses who work in the area have said they saw a similar road gang intermittently beavering away at that same spot in Harcourt Pde many times.

While it is believed up to six men formed the gang's principal core, detectives say there could have been a number of others in the area on standby had anything gone wrong with Plan A.

Det-Sgt Ross McKenzie, who headed the investigation into the daylight heist before moving across to the homicide squad, says that at the time the guards had no reason to be suspicious of the road crew.

"They had a broom and a piece of machinery. On the left-hand side was a worker of typical council appearance with a stop sign," he said of the bandits' camouflage.

"When the van got alongside this bloke with the sign, he turned it around to 'stop'.

"The driver of the van did say afterwards that he couldn't see what work they were doing but because they'd been stopped he felt obliged to pull up and wait so they didn't hurt anyone.

"But they realised later the person with the machine wasn't doing anything. That person even came over to the van and was revving the thing, probably as a form of intimidation."

That's when the bandits pounced.

As the robber with the cutting machine brought it alongside the armoured cabin, two other bandits "working" near their own white vehicle sprinted to the back of the money van.

Using keys that matched the van locks perfectly, they opened the back doors and leapt inside, surprising the guards.

The driver and supervisor felt a rush of air behind them.

Both turned to be confronted by a workman brandishing a handgun.

That bandit, believed to be the ring-leader of the gang, dragged the two into the rear where they were placed on the floor and handcuffed next to their Armaguard colleague.

Hoods were placed over their heads and their sidearms were taken.

The guards later told police that although the robbers were composed and impassive, they feared they were going to be shot execution-style.

After all, their assailants were not wearing balaclavas.

One might have been wearing a false beard but that was the extent of their disguises.

But the guards were not shot dead.

They were left unharmed with the faces of their attackers etched forever in their memories.

In his statement to police, the crew leader said: "Within a second of us stopping I heard a noise at the rear of the van and I looked around and there was a man already in the van standing close to where the guard sits behind the driver.

"This man was holding a revolver. I noticed that he had a bushy moustache, possibly ginger in color. He yelled: `All of you into the back and face the floor. Do as we tell you and you won't be hurt. We don't want to hurt you.'"

''I was shit-scared, never been so scared, and I just wanted to do as I was told. After lying down on the floor, the man said: `Hands behind back', and I did so.

"The man in the back placed a garbage bag over my head. He said: `Don't worry. They have got holes in them.' " 

Det-Sgt McKenzie said the guards, sitting in the sanctuary of their supposedly impregnable van, were taken completely by surprise.

"The robbers were very cool, calm and collected," he said.

"They didn't get angry and violent. They made reasonable requests. The guards complied because they were frightened out of their lives.

"They were hooded and bound and expected to be killed at any time."

At that point an impatient taxi driver tried to drive around the armoured van and through the roadblock.

But the ute sitting behind the van blocked its path, neutralising any possible hiccups.

The job was running like clockwork.

With the guards trussed up in the back and a clear path ahead, another bandit - possibly the one with the "stop" sign - took the armoured van's wheel and drove left into Cremorne St, down Balmain and to the dead-end of Walnut.

Following was the white getaway van and the ute into which the money was transferred.

These were then used to flee the scene.

"We're not totally certain what happened to the money after the heist," Det-Sgt McKenzie admitted.

"We don't know whether it was split up on the spot or stored and split up later. They were used notes and there is no record kept of the serial numbers."

Despite its slickness, the job was not flawless.

Whether inadvertently or on purpose, the bandits left behind the security key that gave them entry into the Armaguard van.

It was one clue that provided the police with a major avenue of inquiry.

"To get into the back of these vans requires two keys," Det-Sgt McKenzie explained.

"One is a standard sort of key and one a security key. There must have been a significant amount of effort put into getting the right key for that lock.

"It was always a very high consideration that somebody must have supplied the key."

A partly scratched name on the key enabled police to determine its source.

"There was an identification that somebody had tried to erase," Det-Sgt McKenzie said, adding that they are not certain where the key was cut, "but we know the blank had come from an order related to a specific locksmith".

They broached the situation with the people associated with that company, "but that was the end of that. We came to a dead end. We certainly believe we had the principal people involved and possibly some of the others, thanks to good detective work and various sources of information."

"We're quite satisfied that those who ordered the key are associated with the people who were involved in doing the job. 

"Probably one of the only mistakes the bandits made was leaving that key there and allowing us to learn how they got in and, to a point, where we believe the key came from. We didn't have enough proof to take it any further."

Speaking to th Herald Sun after the hold-up, Armaguard's bob Bruce said it was unclear how the bandits obtained a key to the van which they had copied to a blank key.

"There is an inference that there must have been some internal involvement because of the keys," he said.

Det-Sgt McKenzie still marvels at the audacity of the gang which he believes is a Melbourne-based faction of armed robbers who could have carried out any number of unsolved hold-ups to finance the Richmond robbery.

"This was an incredible job. Bold? I'd have to say so," he said.

"These people were extremely well organised, not just for the event itself but also for after the event. It was meticulously executed.

"From my understanding it would be the biggest armoured van robbery in this state. I've never heard of anything quite as big as this.

There was a particular amount delivered by an armoured van at the Great Bookie Robbery and this exceeds that. These guys were after the big haul."

Identikit images of the suspects were placed on wanted posters.

Their descriptions were as follows:

ROBBER NO.1
Moustache man. The suspected ringleader. Armed with the gun, he was one of two who stormed the rear of the Armaguard van. In his late 30s, about 176cm tall with medium build.

ROBBER NO.2
Rag hat man. The right-hand man. Looking inconspicuous with the broom, he could have been the driver of the getaway vehicle that followed the hijacked Armaguard van. Described as being of southern European appearance, possibly with a fake beard.

ROBBER NO.3
Hard hat man. One of the main players. He was the second man to invade the rear of the Armaguard van. In his 30s, he is described as a thickly-set caucasian.

ROBBER No.4
Sunglasses man. Police believe he was the one holding the stop sign and could have been the robber who drove the hijacked van.

Det Sgt McKenzie said police were still unsure about what happened to the bulk of the money.

A portion of it, about $40,000 was recovered after four people strolled into a dozen city banks and swapped traceable notes from the heist.

Three women and one man carried out the note swapping about two months after the robbery.

Police believe the four were a secondary group who knew the money was stolen but were probably unaware from where.

Another $160,000 in $20 notes and $250,000 in $50 notes were untraceable but has never been recovered.

The rest of the haul was untraceable notes.

Detectives still question the decision to swap the $40,000 in full view of the bank cameras, as it was a move that offered them clues.

Armed robbery detectives who investigated the case until all avenues of inquiry had been exhausted believe they know who the main players are.

On June 21 2001, the Herald Sun reported that the alleged perpetrators were still living off their stolen riches as well as leeching off the government in the form of dole payments.

The suspected mastermind who led the crew has been living comfortably in an affluent eastern suburb.

He escaped jail in the late 1990's on minor drug charges.

Two of the other chief suspects are brothers who carry a fearsome reputation in criminal circles.

The elder is living on a south-west Victorian property protected by rottweilers.

He had been arrested for guns and firearms offences but has recently managed to escape with suspended jail terms.

He had also been questioned over an unsolved murder and has been linked to an amphetamine syndicate.

The younger brother served time on drug charges just before the robbery.

Both brothers had connections in the nightclub and fashion industries.

A man working at the locksmiths from where the blank keys appeared was also a suspect .

He was the son of a career criminal noted for his safe-breaking expertise and close links to Alphonse Gangiatano.

In a post-script to the armed raid, a man suspected of paying a peripheral role in the job was murdered in December 1997 in Brunswick.

The man, 41, was bashed to death with a wheel brace on a foot-path.

His killer left him lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

He was rushed to the Western General Hospital where he died later.

The man had been interviewed by the Armed Robbery Squad but was never charged.