As 29 passengers sat aboard a Zurich-bound flight here Monday evening waiting for the last bags to be loaded, gunmen wearing police uniforms raced up to the plane and stole more than 120 packages of diamonds worth at least $50 million, and possibly much more.
Some of the eight masked robbers stood in front of the Helvetic Airways jet plane with machine guns, pointing laser sights at the pilots, while others forced ground workers to open the plane's cargo doors, according to Belgian prosecutors and other people familiar with the events.
The thieves snatched the parcels of jewels and sped off in minutes without firing a shot, said Belgian prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch. Many travelers on the plane and inside the terminal didn't know what was happening. "It was well-prepared and very professional," she said.
The theft rattled Antwerp, a world hub for trading in gems and precious metals. Nearly all of those valuables pass through Brussels Airport.
The thieves appeared to have detailed information about both the cargo and operations at the airport, and likely had help from people at the airport, according to an aviation-security specialist knowledgeable about the incident. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, international law-enforcement officials have been concerned about security threats posed by people working inside airports and other sensitive facilities.
The brazen heist is Europe's highest-value airport-tarmac holdup in a decade, aviation-security exports said. Authorities on Tuesday didn't detail exactly what was stolen, so estimates of the value of the goods varied. The declared value of the stolen diamonds, a mix of rough and polished stones, was about $50 million, according to a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, a coordinator for local diamond traders. The aviation-security specialist knowledgeable about what happened said the jewels could be worth up to $350 million.
Ms. Van Wymersch, the prosecutor, declined to place a value on the stolen gems.
Swiss International Air Lines, for which Helvetic operated the flight, said neither the passengers nor the four crew members aboard the Fokker 100 jetliner were hurt.
At 7:47 p.m. Monday, a black Audi A8 sedan and black Mercedes van—both with blue police-style lights—pulled up to the plane, which had just been loaded, according to Ms. Van Wymersch.
The robbers appeared to know that one segment of the airport's perimeter, protected by two layers of 10-foot-high fencing and concrete blocks, could be crossed more easily because of construction, said the security specialist knowledgeable about what happened. The fences were cut before the two vehicles—models often used by Belgian security forces—reached the airport, this person said. The thieves slipped onto airport territory between security patrols, said another person familiar with the events.
The assailants appear to have waited, proceeding only after receiving word that the valuables were loaded onto the plane from an armored truck that arrived at the airport with an armed escort, according to the aviation-security specialist. The robbers' airport-police uniforms were precise down to armbands, this person said.
One vehicle was later found burned and "was probably used" in the theft, Ms. Van Wymersch said. "At this stage of the investigation, everything is still possible."
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