A diamond heist worthy of any spy movie went down in Brussels yesterday. On Monday evening, thieves broke through a security fence at the Brussels Airport and relieved a plane bound for Switzerland of at least $50 million in uncut diamonds.
The BBC reports:
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”.
Ya think?
The diamonds were being transferred from Antwerp to Zurich.
The thieves were well armed with the Telegraph reporting that the gang wore mask and hoodies while their machine guns were equipped with laser sights. The crooks used two vehicles, with the heist taking only a few minutes to complete. After four men jumped out of each vehicle, the held Brinks and airport security at gunpoint while they took the diamonds from the cargo hold. However, no shots were fired.
It was a Mercedes-Benz van, along with an Audi disguised as a police car, that busted through the perimeter fencer. They escaped in both the vehicles through the same way they came and the van was found later, burned out. The Audi was long gone.
Since most of the stolen diamonds were uncut, their sale on the black market will be that much easier.
How many of these diamonds will make it into the chains of rappers? Sorry, had to ask. Check out some photos of where this epic crime went down in the gallery.
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Photo: EPA
