Unknown to them, a
precious cargo was being loaded into the airplane hold along with their
suitcases: $50 million in rough and polished diamonds.
But the diamonds would never reach their final destination.
Shortly before 8 p.m.
Monday, eight masked men in two vehicles burst through the perimeter
fence of Brussels Airport and sped toward the aircraft on the tarmac.
The men, who authorities said wore clothing resembling police uniforms, were heavily armed.
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.
Within three minutes, the thieves had snatched the diamonds from the hold, said airport spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse.
Moments later they left the scene, racing out through the same breach in the airport periphery through which they had entered.
The robbers, four in
each car, had broken a hole in the fence where it ran between two
construction sites, Van Wymersch said at a news conference.
"This was a very precise, almost military-organized and well-executed robbery," Van der Cruysse said.
He said it was a "big surprise" that such a slick heist been possible -- but pointed the finger at organized crime.
"We are an airport that
is, as all international airports are, subject to very strict aviation
security and safety regulations," he said.
The aircraft targeted
was a regular passenger flight operated by Helvetic Airways on behalf of
Swiss, Switzerland's national airline.
It's not yet clear how the thieves knew that the diamonds would be on board.
But this was not a chance holdup, said Van Wymersch, describing the men involved as "professionals."
Antwerp, the city known as the world's diamond-cutting capital, lies only about 25 miles away from Brussels.
The Antwerp World
Diamond Centre has on average $200 million in stones coming in and out
daily, and it takes security very seriously, a spokesman told CNN.
He was unable to confirm reports that gold and platinum were stolen along with the diamonds.
It's not the first time that Antwerp's centuries-old diamond trade has been targeted.
The city was the scene
of a spectacular robbery in 2003 when thieves made off with the contents
of more than 100 safes at the diamond center. Those gems were never
recovered.
Some 34,000 jobs in the
city are connected to the diamond trade, according to the Antwerp World
Diamond Centre, from mining company representatives to dealers to the
craftsmen who polish the stones.
