Video: Man Quietly Steals Bucket of Gold From Armed Truck in Midtown Manhattan at 430 pm

A suspect in his 40's walked up to a Loomis security truck in Midtown Manhattan Sept. 29, 2016 and walked up with a bucket full of gold flakes worth $1.6 million. Security cameras were rolling, and shot very clear images of the suspect.

Police are seeking your help in apprehending the suspect. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at http://www.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

A reward has been offered. From the New York Times:

Because the bucket is very heavy, the man walks slowly and pauses often. But because the bucket is very heavy, the man keeps walking.

The man, seen in a surveillance video, has just taken a black, metal 5-gallon bucket off the back of an armored truck in broad daylight in Midtown Manhattan.

The bucket was left unattended when a guard went to the truck’s cab for a moment, the police said, and the man probably did not know what was in it. But he probably had a suspicion.

“I think he just seen an opportunity and took the pail and walked off,” Detective Martin Pastor told WNBC-TV, which broadcast the footage on Tuesday. The theft took place on Sept. 29.

On the video, the man walks calmly through crowds on West 48th Street, as calmly as a man can walk while lugging a very heavy and perhaps very valuable bucket that does not belong to him.

At one point, the man — stocky, maybe in his 50s, wearing a down vest and long-sleeve shirt — rests the bucket on the sidewalk to catch his breath. He crosses Fifth Avenue, heading east. He makes his way to Third Avenue, a distance of a half-mile. It takes him an hour, WNBC said.

At Third Avenue and 48th Street, the police said, the man disappears. The bucket contained 86 pounds of gold flakes, worth $1.6 million, the police said.

Detective Pastor said the police believe that the man is in Florida. The gold flakes are still at large as well.