$28 Million in Diamonds Stolen in Heist

It is believed that on Monday, March 5, $28 million of diamonds were stolen from a bank in Belgium. The bank is located in Antwerp.

The robbery seemed to have been very well planned with quite a bit of time put into making sure that the heist would be easy. The thief had been using a passport under the name of Carlos Hector Flomenbaum, which has now been determined to be stolen. The true owner of the passport had it stolen a couple of years ago.

The thief had been a regular visitor to the bank for about the last year and was allowed to enter the very highly secured diamond vault. He gained access to the vault by becoming trusted by the bank officials because he was a regular diamond dealer that used the vault very often. He just walked right in and took the diamonds without any resistance.

It appears that this con man has pulled off the ultimate heist so far. There have been no arrests as of Monday.

There is a $2 million reward out for anyone that can let police know the whereabouts of the thief. There has been a detailed sketch put out of the criminal that shows a man between the ages of 55-60, about 6 feet 3 inches tall with gray hair. The man is said to speak English with an American type accent. He is also known to usually wear a baseball cap. It is not officially known when the man stole the diamonds from the bank at this time; it could have either been Monday, March 5^th or a few days earlier on Friday.

It was only four years ago that a massive heist was completed in Antwerp for a whopping $100 million. In this case the thieves made away with diamonds, gold, and jewelry. This proved to be the biggest safety-deposit box theft in history.

The main reason why diamonds have been traditionally easier to steal than money is that there is usually no formal paperwork or records made in a transaction. Most are done with trust and many cameras catching every person's move.

Security in Antwerp is strong, but apparently not strong enough. The gem district of the city is solely responsible for over half of the diamond deals in the entire world. One would think that with that much diamond traffic, there would be so much security that stealing any would be almost impossible.

Cited:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17581876/

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006722065