$50 mn diamond heist at Brussels airport

Zeenews Bureau Brussels: In one of the most daring heists ever, eight men made off with diamonds worth 50 million dollars from the hold of a plane at the Brussels International Airport. All they needed to rob the Swiss bound plane of its multi-million worth diamonds, were two vehicles, which they rode crashed through the perimeter fence of the airport and drove right up to the Swiss passenger plane that was ready to leave.

The masked men got out of the car, flashed their arms and took the loot from the hold and – without firing a shot drove off through the same hole in the fence, completing the spectacular theft within minutes. Dumbfounded by audacity of the heist, the police have begun to look for clues that would lead them to the master thieves, but all they have found so far is a burnt car near the airport. 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. Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World diamond Centre pegged the worth of the stolen diamonds at 50 million dollars. The Swiss flight, operated by Helvetic Airways, was canceled after the robbery. Swiss, an affiliate of Germany`s Deutsche Lufthansa AG, declined to comment on the heist, citing the ongoing judicial investigation. The insurance for air transport — handled sometimes by airlines themselves or external insurance companies — is usually relatively cheap because it`s considered to be the safest way of transporting small high value items, logistics experts say. Unlike a car or a truck, an airplane cannot be attacked by robbers once it`s one its way, and it is considered to be very safe before the departure and after the plane`s arrival because the aircraft is always within the confines of an airport — which are normally highly secured. With Agency Inputs