Four arrested over Antwerp diamond heist
Belgian police have arrested three Italians and a Dutchwoman following the biggest ever heist in the diamond-cutting capital of the world.
The four are being questioned over thefts from 123 maximum security vaults in Antwerp’s precious gem district.
They are being held in solitary confinement until a court decides on their continued detention on Thursday.
Leen Nuyts, a magistrate at the Antwerp prosecutor’s office, declined to give more information on the four except to say they were arrested based on “developments in the ongoing investigation.”
The daily De Morgen newspaper said the four had rented office space in the building where the diamonds were kept only a few months ago.
The theft has already been called “the biggest diamond heist of the century” in Antwerp, and Nuyts said initial assessments of the losses show that “it looks that way.”
Thieves cleared out over two thirds of the 160 vaults during the weekend of February 15 at Antwerp’s Diamond Centre, a trade office at the heart of the old diamond district where police and surveillance cameras are highly visible.
A decade ago, when only five vaults were robbed in the cellar where cutters and dealers traditionally store their wares, the robbery was estimated at €4m.
Even ten days after the theft, police could not establish a full estimate of the losses, since many of the traders and cutters who were abroad had not provided information on the content of their vaults, said Nuyts.
The High Diamond Council industry association has said the total theft certainly reached into the many millions of euros.
It remained a mystery how the robbers had entered the Diamond Centre.
Surveillance cameras cover the building, and special passes are required to gain access. Round-the-clock guards protect the room with the vaults.
There was no sign of a break-in at the entrance or the cellar. Police have always suspected inside help.
The diamond district is home to Antwerp’s Jewish community and has had reinforced police surveillance over the past few decades.
In 1981, a car bomb exploded outside the old Sephardic synagogue in the heart of the diamond district, killing three people and injuring more than 100.
