The case against Bertoldi, the suspected mastermind, was yet to be heard,[13] pending the outcome of his appeal over his kidnapping conviction. What happens now? A businessman and a Geneva lawyer among the eight Swiss people being held were facing charges of dealing in stolen goods and obstructing the course of justice. In February 2003, Notarbartolo was arrested for heading a ring of Italian thieves. Els Liekens, an engineer for Aquafin, the city’s wastewater management firm, said: “I do not know how these burglars got out alive. Ten years ago Antwerp was the scene of an even larger diamond raid, when robbers took $100 million (£64 million) in gems and uncut stones. World leaders are congratulating Joe Biden on his White House win but some remain silent. Video, US election: Being with Trump the day he lost, US election result: What Biden's victory means for rest of world, Japan prince Fumihito declared heir to throne, Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan 'takes key town' in Armenia conflict, Kamala Harris: The many identities of the first woman vice-president, US Election 2020: Time for US to unite, President-elect Biden says, US election results: Five reasons Biden won. "A big haul was seized, of 100,000 Swiss francs (£68,000) in cash and a large quantity of diamonds, the value of which is currently being estimated," said the Swiss prosecutor's office. Unknown to them, a precious cargo was being loaded into the airplane hold along with their suitcases: $50 million in rough and polished diamonds. While no shots were fired and no one was injured, the pilot, co-pilot and a transport security guard were all threatened at gunpoint, said Ine Van Wymersch, of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Brussels. "In Switzerland, we have found diamonds that we can already say are coming from the heist, and in Belgium large amounts of money have been found. He was unable to confirm reports that gold and platinum were stolen along with the diamonds. It's not yet clear how the thieves knew that the diamonds would be on board. He sometimes traveled there to pawn off diamonds stolen back home in Italy, having been a thief since the age of eight (his first victim was the milkman). Read about our approach to external linking. Georgia 2020 election results: what's happening with recounts and Senate runoffs? The trigger for the arrests was a man detained in France who is thought to have been a member of the eight man armed gang who snatched the diamond consignment from the hold of a passenger jet in a precision hold-up that lasted just three minutes three months ago. A gang in Belgium carry out a dangerous robbery on a bank vault in the city of Antwerp. First, a tunnel had to be dug from a home several hundred meters away into the sewage system. Pont was investigated for his relationship with Bertoldi, and by monitoring his phone calls, police uncovered Pont's unsuccessful attempts to fence the diamonds in Geneva, which is not a city known for its diamond trade. Hunt for mole in 'perfect' Brussels diamond heist. Then, a move had to be made through the claustrophobic sewers, measuring less than a meter-wide toward the bank that could at any time get filled with water or noxious vapors. Drag queens, fake beards and chocolates: Notable diamond heists, Thieves were dressed like police and threatened air crew at gunpoint, prosecutor says, Team of eight takes only minutes to steal the rough and polished stones from a plane's cargo hold, They breached the periphery and sped off with their haul in 2 vehicles, the spokesman says, The stones were en route from Antwerp to Zurich, Switzerland, Antwerp diamond center says. Police seized large sums of money, stolen diamonds and luxury cars from the suspects who are aged from 30 to 50 years old. The Helvetic Airways aircraft from which millions of dollars worth of diamonds were stolen on the tarmac of Brussels international airport, Limited numbers at the Centopah add poignancy to Remembrance Sunday service. [12], In May 2018, 18 of those tried in connection to the heist were acquitted. When police reacted to a warning call at a bank in Antwerp's famed diamond center, they found the vault door still secured. "This was a very precise, almost military-organized and well-executed robbery," Van der Cruysse said. [1] Entering the airport through a hole they created in the airport security fence, the robbers drove on the property with two vehicles, a Mercedes van and an Audi, both of which were black with flashing blue police lights. Leonardo Notarbartolo known as organiser of the “diamond robbery of the century” was released from prison. Suspects in France and Switzerland were detained on Tuesday night in the prelude to armed raids involving 250 Belgian police. “First of all, digging the tunnel towards the sewage system was dangerous for the robbers themselves because of a possible subsidence. Within three minutes, the thieves had snatched the diamonds from the hold, said airport spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse. But this was not a chance holdup, said Van Wymersch, describing the men involved as "professionals.". The investigation is ongoing, but this isn’t the first time that the federal authorities in Belgium have had to track down a team of highly sophisticated jewel thieves. Police were alerted on Sunday to a possible burglary and when they arrived they found the bank door shut with about 30 deposit boxes emptied inside. Police have carried out raids in three countries and arrested 33 people in connection with a spectacular £34 million diamond heist pulled off with clockwork precision on the runway of Brussels Airport. Prosecutors have yet to explain how the police got on the trail of the suspects or how many of the arrested men would be charged and arrested. It's a mystery worthy of a Hollywood heist movie. For other inquiries, Contact Us. VideoSearching for a safe place for my family. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). [1][2][3] The heist was accomplished without a shot being fired. Video, The man who feeds hundreds of parakeets every day, Searching for a safe place for my family. They ... a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. And the investigation is still ongoing," said Mr Meilleur. The thieves appear to have had to squeeze through sewage pipes as narrow as 40cm (15 in) wide, before boring another tunnel to reach the bank. Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. [1][2][4], The time between the loading procedure and the moment the plane started to move to take off would only have lasted 15 minutes according to Caroline De Wolf, a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. The aircraft targeted was a regular passenger flight operated by Helvetic Airways on behalf of Swiss, Switzerland's national airline. The man behind the Antwerp diamond heist, Leonardo Notarbatolo, was familiar with the area. BRUSSELS -- It was anything but a false alarm. US election 2020: How the world reacted to a Biden win, Seven things we learned from the Super Bowl ad breaks, The high-flying job that's not for the faint-hearted. Night had fallen. What happens now?9, US election 2020: How the world reacted to a Biden win10. Recently, two Chinese nationals ran out of luck after they were caught for replacing diamond jewellery worth Rs 34 lakh with fake ones at an expo in Mumbai.The ingenuity of the crime draws comparisons with another bold robbery in 2003 — the Antwerp diamond heist, also known as the ‘heist of the century’ — where nearly $100 million worth of diamonds were stolen. VideoThe man who feeds hundreds of parakeets every day, Striking news pictures from around the world. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. A similar raid in the French city of Nice in 1976 saw a gang spend months tunnelling through sewers to access a branch of Société Générale. The Times reports that a mattress was also found, possibly used to help cushion their knees or stomachs while they “worked”. Antwerp cops have not as yet said how much, or what exactly was stolen, but they were first alerted to a possible vault breach on Sunday. The robbers drove at high speed through the same gap in the security cordon that they had opened in front of the aircraft on the runway. View our online Press Pack. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The BBC says that bank customers aren’t happy about the lack of information, as some of the safety deposit boxes contain their life savings.