Armed gang steals diamonds worth at least £43m in Brussels raid

 
Brussels
AP

Armed raiders have stolen at least £43 million worth of diamonds and gold in a daring heist on a passenger plane at Brussels airport.

Two vehicles carrying eight armed men sped up to a security van as ground staff were loading the valuables onto the Swiss jet just minutes from take-off.

Carrying automatic weapons with laser sights the gang threatened airline staff and security officials ordering them to hand over the diamonds and other jewels.

The valuables are said to have been contained in a special safe which was about to be loaded onto the plane which was full of passengers.

Officials said the raid on the LX789 Helvetic Airlines flight to Zurich at around 8pm last night was over in just three minutes.

"The men were armed and masked. There were no shots fired and nobody was injured," a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor said.

The flight was cancelled with passengers and crew being offered treatment for shock.

The gang used two vehicles a Mercedes van and an Audi car with a flashing light – making it look like it was an emergency vehicle - to smash their way through the airport’s perimeter fence.

Industry experts in Belgian estimated the lost uncut diamonds and gold as being worth ‘around 50 million euros’ - making it one of the biggest diamond heists of all time.

Caroline De Wolf, of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, said: ‘What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum.’

Both vehicles sped off after the robbery and one of them was later found, said officials, who would not comment on what was taken.

The robbers managed to get onto the tarmac after smashing through a perimeter barrier.

A spokesman for the international airport said the raid happened shortly before 8pm as transport agents loaded the plane, which was bound for Zurich with cargo destined for one of the Swiss city’s many secure banking vaults.

An airport spokesman said : “Two vehicles got through security by breaking through a damaged barrier. No shots were fired during the attack, which was over within three minutes.”

The Mercedes van was later found burnt out and abandoned in a Brussels suburb, while witnesses said they saw men transferring the diamonds and gold into another vehicle and speeding off.

“This was undoubtedly a highly professional job,” a Brussels police source said. “The way the gang were equipped and the way they operated suggest a meticulously planned raid.”

Police are also investigating the possibility that an insider at the airport tipped off the gang about the cargo.

The passenger plane was filled with passengers, and just a few minutes away from take-off when the raid took place.

Guns were aimed at the Brinks security officials, who had no option but to allow the robbers to help themselves to the diamonds and gold, which were loaded into the Mercedes van.

A Brussels police spokesman said it was the fifth time that there had been a security breach on the runway at the airport over the last year-and-a-half.

Officials have been concerned that airport or airline staff may have offered assistance to criminals trying to get into secure areas of the airport.

The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) said this morning that a ‘reliable source’ had told them that the jewels stolen were ‘mainly uncut diamonds’ from Antwerp, and worth around 50 million euros.

An AWDC source said: ‘The transport of money and valuables abroad takes place every day. What concerns us is that a car could so easily get on to the airport tarmac. We’re asking ourselves questions about this.’

Belgian prosecutors have launched a judicial enquiry into the crime, and today police were swarming all over the airport.

The biggest diamond robbery in history was a remarkably similar raid on a cargo truck at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam in 2005 when armed raiders escaped with around £80 million worth of gems.

In November 2000 the Flying Squad swooped on a gang trying to steal the £200 million De Beers diamonds from the Millennium Dome.

A £40 million robbery on the Graff diamond store in Knightsbridge in 2009 is Britain’s biggest diamond raid.

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