8 armed men steal millions in diamonds from plane at Brussels airport

[Tx4obama]

Source: FoxNews

Police on Tuesday were looking for eight men who made a hole in a security fence of Brussels' international airport, drove onto the tarmac and robbed tens of millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane.

Brussels prosecutor's spokeswoman Anja Bijnens said Tuesday the armed and masked men used two vehicles in their daring Monday raid and within minutes made their way to the plane, took the cache of stones and drove off into the darkness.

Police found a burnt-out vehicle close to the airport later Monday night but said it was still looking for clues.

The heist was estimated at some 50 million dollars in diamonds, said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World diamond Centre.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/19/8-armed-men-steal-millions-in-diamonds-from-plane-at-brussels-airport/

---

Wow!

Sounds like it will be a new movie

[JI7]

1. wonder if they were the same ones that stole jewelry from a hotel

in NY

[Earth_First]

6. I doubt it...

This seems like the work of a highly organized WELL funded group.

The heist in NYC was opportunism at best.

[davidpdx]

2. Yeah, but to get rid of them they are going to have to fence them

There is a good chance they'll do something dumb enough that they will get caught.

[Posteritatis]

3. Anyone robbing on that scale probably isn't merely fencing them. (nt)

[Blue_Tires]

16. I'm thinking there was at least a little help from inside

airport security should be the first place to start...

for a little more insight:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5694086/
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/508334-swiss-flight-robbed-apron-brussels.html

[Blue_Tires]

25. I'm seeing reports that the diamonds were uncut

so I'm sure they will be much harder to trace...

[BigD_95]

4. its like something out of the movies

[Cooley Hurd]

5. Like a Belgian GoodFellas!

Wat maakt me zo grappig neuken?

[RevStPatrick]

9. Nah, it was much more likely these guys...

[Blue_Tires]

18. Lufthansa is probably still pissed off to this very day

Yeah, I know, the stuff was insured anyway, but I just like to think that....

[kentauros]

7. It's been done as a movie: Heist (2001)

Heist with Gene Hackman

[Orrex]

10. Yeah, but you and Hackman and Devito and I are the only people who saw that film

Maybe Lindo, too.

[kentauros]

11. That's typical of David Mamet films, though.

It's a wonder anyone has ever heard of him

[dbonds]

8. I read the headline and think of Doc Ock. from spiderman.

Men with 8 arms.

[Orrex]

12. That's a lot of waffles.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. Actual value of diamonds

if the DeBeers corporation didn't exist:

$14.92

[Blue_Tires]

15. +1

[cali]

14. Happened on the 10th anniversary of the great Antwerp Diamond Heist

The guy who planned that is out on parole. Just saying.

The theft is believed to have been carried out by a five-man team, headed by Leonardo Notarbartolo.[1] Notarbartolo had rented space in the diamond center, and was arrested after being connected to the crime by DNA evidence from a partially eaten sandwich found near the crime scene along with video tapes from the diamond centre.[9] He was found guilty of orchestrating the heist. He is considered to be the leader of a ring of Italian thieves called "The School of Turin"[3][10] who carried out the crime. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison,[1] but has since been released on parole.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp_Diamond_Heist

[Blue_Tires]

24. Evidently this isn't the first time this caper has been pulled in Brussels

April 3, 2001
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/432548/

Nov. 1, 2000
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/318345/6/

Ironically, BRU is right next to an armed forces airbase...Some "security"...

[Javaman]

17. What would be amazing would be if the robbers recut all the diamonds then flooded the market

thus bringing down their price to a realistic level rather than how it currently controlled to maintain their ridiculous price.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Its considered

they have no more than 48 hours to remove their marks and recut them. Thereafter they would be untraceable.

[Javaman]

20. as someone said in other thread on the same topic, this would make a great movie...

suppose these guys had a room full of cutters ready to go after the heist.

Some fast paced music, clever and quick cutting, close ups of the cutters sweating and breaking tools, etc.

cut to a close up of a gloved hand handcuffed to a briefcase, slow pan up to a woman with long dark hair, hat and sunglasses walking into a diamond dealer. Quick smart dialog reveals the dealer is in on it. The woman leaves with a new briefcase filled with money, pulls off the hat gloves and, now to be revealed, black wig and tosses them into a dumpster. She quickly walks down an alley where she's confronted by a sinister looking man who threatens her but it turns out he's joking and they jump into a convertible and peel off into fast moving traffic.

Queue the James Bond theme. LOL

[sir pball]

21. Nice idea but

even 50mil of diamonds isn't going to really affect the price. For that you'd have to knock over DeBeers' storage facilities which are a bit more secure than an airport, I suspect.

[Javaman]

22. Yeah, that invaded my mind but I quickly pushed it out in hopes

of a John Doe Goes To Washington type fantasy.

I guy can dream, can't he?

Cheers!

[lexw]

23. Curious what one does with that many diamonds. Seems they will get caught trying to sell them.

[Lint Head]

26. They should be easy to find if they have eight arms.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

[bubbayugga]

27. they used machine guns. Interesting

because machine guns are very much illegal in Belgium and basically everywhere else in Europe. I wonder what type they had and where they got them.

[Hugabear]

28. I hear that George Clooney and Nicolas Cage are already auditioning for this movie

n/t

[LiberalLovinLug]

29. I can't help but cheer for these guys

As long as no one was killed. Is that wrong?

Does anyone else remember a time when we had more movies made where a group of guys (usually) pull off a heist (sometimes based on real events) and at the end they get away with it and live happily ever after in a tropical paradise. I guess there's Ocean's franchise, but even that is based on an older movie.

Seems like there was a shift in the 80's/90's where Authoritarianists regained influence and suddenly every movie had to end with the hero cop taking down the thieves. That or some tragedy befalls one or more of the culprits, as a karmic payment.

[Pterodactyl]

30. They should be easy to catch. Just look for the guys with eight arms!