Mail robbery

[2] In the USA, the period immediately following the First World War witnessed a large number of mail robberies.

Eventually, the frequency of these thefts caused the Department of the Navy to place armed Marines on all mail trains.

[3] A number of high-value mail robberies occurred in the UK after the Second World War, as a result of a lack of improvements in security in the transport of money.

[4] One major example was the Eastcastle Street robbery in 1952, involving the theft of £287,000 from a post office van in London.

A year earlier, $1.5 million was stolen from the hold-up of a U.S. Mail truck in Massachusetts.