Apparently when it comes to diamonds, the robbers don’t see any obstacle. What happened at the Brussels airport late on Monday was just like in the movies. Eight masked thieves stole diamonds believed to be worth €37 million ($50 million) from an aircraft bound for Switzerland.
Robbers steal €37million worth of diamonds being loaded on to plane in meticulously planned armed heist at Brussels Airport
Rough diamonds have been stolen in a lightning-fast heist, since thieves only took three minutes to rob the cargo hold and that they left the scene minutes later. They broke through a fence at the Belgian capital’s main airport with two vehicles when the diamonds were already on an aircraft, and sped to the airplane. Then they removed goods from the hold before leaping back into their vehicles to escape through the same breach. There was no shooting, and no one got injured.
“What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum,” said Caroline De Wolf, spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Center.
According to Wolf and police, the stones were en route from Antwerp, Belgium, to Zurich, Switzerland.
RTL.be news site states, the thieves stole a suitcase of diamonds weighing some 10 kilos. The plane is also believed to have been carrying gold. The precious freight was being transported by the security and protection company Brink’s.
At the time, there were about 20 passengers on board the aircraft, which was a regular passenger flight from Brussels to Zurich operated by Helvetic Airways on behalf of Swiss.
An airport spokesman Jan Van Der Crujsse could not explain how the area could be so vulnerable to theft. “We abide by the most stringent rules,” he said.
Well, obviously someone made mistake. And, not obviously the robbers.
Workers place concrete blocks to block access to a security fence next to the tarmac, at Brussels international airport
