However, he is unaware that Martine is actually working for government agent Everett (Richard Lintern), and has been sent to retrieve the compromising photographs of a certain royal personage hidden in a bank security deposit box owned by revolutionary/drug dealer/pimp Michael X (Peter De Jersey).

British intelligence (MI-5) knows about the pics, and they want them destroyed. MI-5 helps arrange the whole thing. The bank's alarm system won't be on. All the smuggler has to do is tempt others into doing the work. The photos are kept in a deposit box so the force of MI5 and MI6 stage what is designed to look like an ordinary burglary to nab the snaps while avoiding suspicion of a government job.

The beauty of the robbery scheme is that the robbers don't really “break in” at all; instead they rent out an abandoned handbag store two doors down from the bank and tunnel in from below to the inside of the vault itself. Secret service is more than happy to keep the local law enforcement at bay - just so long as Martine can slink away with the royal photos.