Two weeks ago, $50
million worth of diamonds were stolen from a plane at Brussels Airport. The
plane, headed from Brussels, Belgium, to Zurich, Switzerland had on board $50
million in rough and polished diamonds. Two men dressed similarly to police
officers broke through the airport’s perimeter fence and approached the plane.
Heavily armed, they threatened the pilot, co-pilot, and
security guard before gaining access to the plane’s hold. They found and stole
the diamonds within three minutes and fled the scene, running back to two cars,
each with three other men waiting.
“This was a very precise, almost military-organized and
well-executed robbery,” said the airport’s spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse. “It
comes as a big surprise that something like this is possible,” he added. “But
of course, this is rather connected to banditism and organized crime rather
than aviation security.”
The plane was a regular passenger flight and authorities
have not yet determined how the thieves knew the diamonds would be among its
cargo. Some reports suggest that gold and platinum may have also been among the
stolen cargo, but that has not been confirmed.
Antwerp is located just 25 miles away from Brussels and is
the world’s diamond-cutting capital. About $200 million in stones go in and out
of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre each day and security is extremely tight.
Despite that fact, in
2003 about $100 million in precious stones were stolen from the Antwerp World
Diamond Centre after thieves stole the contents of more than 100 safes. The
gangsters responsible were eventually caught, but none of the gems were ever
recovered.
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