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19 Ordered to Face Trial over $50M Brussels Diamond Heist
Jan 3, 2016 10:04 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Nineteen people have been ordered to face trial over
a $50 million diamond heist at Brussels Airport in 2013, AFP reported, citing Belgian news
agency Belga.
Nine suspects have been
charged with direct involvement in the robbery and the others with hiding the
diamonds. Six of the 19 are also charged with money laundering in Belgium,
Switzerland and Morocco, and three are women, the report said
December 31.
The robbery
in February 2013 saw a gang of armed men pose as police and take the diamonds from a passenger plane. The operation barely took 10 minutes and no shots were
fired.
A gang of men with
machine guns were said to have pulled up in a car on the runway at
Brussels Airport where an armored vehicle had just unloaded diamonds into
a plane about to take off for Zurich. The AFP report said the men forced
open the hold and seized about 120 boxes of diamonds, worth about $50 million,
before leaving with them.
Police detained more than 30 people in Belgium, France
and Switzerland. A large quantity of gems and cash has been recovered. An estate
agent and his lawyer were given two-year suspended sentences and
fines by a Swiss court in November for handling stolen goods, according to
the report.
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Tags:
Antwerp, Belgium, brussels, Brussels Airport heist, crime, Rapaport News, security
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