Post date: May 08, 2013 2:11:46 PM
Police in Belgium, France and Switzerland arrest 31 people in connection with the theft of $50 million in diamonds at Brussels Airport in February
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MAY 8, 2013) (REUTERS) - Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday (May 8, 2013) that police had detained 31 people over the heist of $50 million in diamonds in February - one of the biggest jewellery robberies in history - after coordinated raids in Belgium,France and Switzerland.
A spokesman for Brussels' prosecutor's office, Jean-Marc Meilleur, said around 250 policemen had been involved in the Belgian operation, which led to the detention of 24 of the 31 people arrested across Europe."This morning, 250 police officers, including 200 members of the federal police and 50 members of the police special forces, conducted a search of 40 locations, mostly in Brussels. Twenty-four people have been arrested. Ten of them are very well known by the judiciary and Brussels' criminal underworld. The suspects are aged between 30 and 50 years old," Meilleur said.
Meilleur said that one suspect had been held in France since Tuesday (May 7), while six men had been arrested in Switzerland.
Those figures differed slightly from the details provided by police in Geneva, who said they had questioned eight people after raids there and had subsequently released six of them, leaving two under investigation
Meilleur confirmed that diamonds had been seized in Switzerland, while cash and luxury cars had been recovered in Belgium.
"Several objects were seized during the search. In Switzerland, some diamonds were found. We can already tell that they come from the heist. In Belgium, large sums of money have also been found. The investigation is now continuing," Meilleur said.
Meanwhile, in Switzerland, police said they were investigating a businessman and a lawyer, while around 100,000 Swiss Francs ($106,200) in cash and a number of diamonds had been recovered.
Thieves dressed as police and armed with machine-guns stole 120 parcels of diamonds from the runway of Brussels airport on February 18, 2013 without firing a shot.
The eight-member gang cut through the airport fence and drove to the airport gate, with flashing lights on their vehicles, where unarmed staff were loading the plane.