Meesterkraker Aage M.: Mijn nachten met de thermische lans

Aage M. - Meesterkraker Aage M.: Mijn nachten met de thermische lans - Amsterdam - De Geïllustreerde Pers BV - 1976 - 1st edition - 160 pp - Paperback - 14 x 21 cm. - Design: Henri P. Remmers.

Condition: Good - with wear.

"Speciale uitgave van Nieuwe Revu" containing the memoirs of the legendary Hague master thief Aage Meinesz (1942-1985); Illustrated with black and white photos. Cover photo: Monno Rienks.Text in Dutch. "Niet minder dan veertig kraken had hij op zijn naam staan, toen zijn kornuiten gingen 'zingen' en hem verraadden."

¶ A "thermische lans" [thermal lance] is a hollow iron tube, filled with magnesium, among other things, through which oxygen is supplied, which burns the iron and magnesium at the end. It can melt through metal safes. It was the favorite tool of the Indonesian-born safe-cracker Aage Meinesz, who committed the largest heist ever in the early 1970s: 600,000 guilders from the safe of the Nederlandsche Middenstandsbank in Helmond. However, he deliberately left the private savings safes untouched. In 1973, Meinesz was arrested and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, from which he ingeniously managed to escape only to be arrested again four months later.

When his prison term was finally over, the entire Dutch press was standing at the prison gate. He was interviewed on television by Willem Duys and became a celebrity.