A daring army reminiscent of The Italian Job,The Great Diamond robbery was enacted at the Brussels Airport
It seems to have taken 12 Minutes!
Story:
watch BBC Video at BBC Link in the post.
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Armed robbers have made off with a “gigantic” haul of diamonds after a rapid raid at Brussels Airport.
They broke through a fence on Monday evening and stole gems which could be worth 50m euros (£43m; $67m), as they were being loaded from a Brinks security van onto a Swiss-bound plane.
They escaped back through the same hole. Police later found a burned-out vehicle close to the airport.
Police are looking for eight men, a prosecutors’ spokeswoman said.
Caroline De Wolf, of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, estimated the haul at 50m euros, saying: “What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum”.
AFP quoted an unnamed spokeswoman at the same Antwerp centre calling the robbery “one of the biggest” ever.
She said that the diamonds were “rough stones” being transported from Antwerp to Zurich.
Antwerp is the hub of the world diamond trade – about 150m euros’ worth of stones move in and out of the city every day, the spokeswoman added.
No shots
Brussels prosecutor’s spokeswoman Anja Bijnens said the thieves were masked and well armed, but no shots were fired and no-one was hurt in the raid.
They used two vehicles, the raid was over in a matter of minutes, and they made off into the night.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21504112
Additional Information.
Gangsters dressed as police officers”
In the course of the morning further details of the heist emerged. At a news conference in Brussels public prosecutors told newsmen that the eight robbers had been kitted out in police uniforms. The gangsters trained their guns on several people during the heist.
The two black vehicles they were travelling in headed straight for the Swiss aircraft where security guards were stowing a valuable shipment in the hold.
The eight gangsters were dressed as police officers or were wearing clothes that closely resembled police uniforms. They travelled four per vehicle. Each vehicle was equipped with flashing police lights.
Guns were trained on the pilot, the co-pilot and a security guard. The gangsters were equipped with machine guns, but no shots were fired. None of the passengers were injured.
The gangsters proceeded to break open the doors leading to the hold. They stole at least 120 parcels. The stolen goods included a shipment of diamonds. Police are as yet refusing to put a value on this shipment.
The raid lasted no longer than 5 minutes. Prosecutors speak of a well-prepared and professional heist.
The gangsters had gained access to the airport by first making a hole in the fence between two containers.
Police recover burnt out delivery van
A delivery van that may have been used in the heist was recovered in Zellik (Flemish Brabant) in the course of the evening. Detectives are now examining the vehicle that was completely gutted by fire to determine whether it was used in the robbery and whether the robbers switched to a different vehicle in Zellik.
The stolen diamonds originated in Antwerp. Antwerp diamond sources value the shipment at 50 million dollars.
The Swiss airline has not yet responded to the robbery. It says that the police investigation is underway and that the company will await the outcome of the investigation before commenting.
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This is not the first occasion that a major shipment of diamonds has been stolen at Brussels Airport. In 2005 robbers got away with a large shipment of diamonds held by the couriers FedEx in the Brucargo freight section of the airport. In 2001 cash and securities were stolen from a Brink’s Ziegler money transport. Eighteen months earlier diamonds were stolen from a Lufthansa aircraft at Zaventem.
In 1995 securities were stolen from a Swissair aircraft that was ready for take-off, while in 1982 a security guard, Francis Zwarts, was attacked by gangsters wearing state police uniforms. The robbers got away with gold and jewelry. Francis Zwarts’s body was never found.”
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/130219_heist
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