Originally posted by Pandemoniac
The wisest thing to do is to get the loot out of the country ASAP indeed.
But the trouble with container-ships is that their cargo goes through custom security. Not all containers will be checked, but you don't want to take the risk over 40 mill.
A private vessel or plane might be safer, but those might get checked as well. You could divide the loot over several of these and man them with expendable thugs to get away with at least a respectable percentage of the cash. Then again, you'll have to send them to different destinations without them knowing the destinations of their colleague smugglers, to prevent one of them that get caught to snitch on the rest. And to have the smugglers that make it deposit the money on the same account will be noticed, so you still have to get the money back together again 'real-life' if you want to avoid years of money-laundry.What I would do, and praise to the robbers if they had the same idea, is to take advantage of the current ocean-sailing race that is happening right now.
Dozens of fairly large sailing-vessels are in a race from America to Europe right now, and they A) come across England and B) are supplied by speedboats regularly. None of the sailor's or suppliers ever get checked for smuggling!
I would get at least 2 teams in the race itself (takes an afford, but hey 40 MILLION) and load the loot on those boats through the supplying-boats and have it sailed right in to Rotterdam where you can have your hands on it within a week after the race.
Think about the weight of the money on the boat.