Belgian court acquits suspects in Swiss plane diamond heist
The gang used two black cars and passed themselves as police offers to enter Brussels Airport in their daring 2013 diamond heist.
Keystone
This content was published on
1 minute
AP/ds
A Belgian court has acquitted for lack of evidence 18 suspects accused of snatching millions worth of jewellery from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane.
One other person, who has a separate lawyer and is suspecteswitzerland diamondsdiamd of being the mastermind, will hear his case in court later.
The court’s decision could still be appealed.
The acquittal deepens the mystery around one of the most sophisticated heists in recent years.
In the Feb. 18, 2013, eight masked assailants brandishing machine gun, offloaded 120 parcels of stones from a Zurich-bound Helvetic Airways plane at Brussels airport.
They fled the scene with jewels valued at CHF46 million ($50 million at the time) without firing a shot.
Dozens of people were detained three months later in a security sweep across three nations.
More
More
Thieves steal diamonds from Swiss aircraft
This content was published on
The gang used two black cars in their daring raid late Monday, grabbed the cache of 120 parcels containing the stones and sped off into the darkness, said Anja Bijnens, spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office. “They tried to pass themselves off as police officers,” Bijnens added. They reportedly wore outfits which resembled dark police…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Woman hands over CHF150,000 to bogus policemen
This content was published on
The scammers pretended to be investigators for Interpol and had contacted the victim over the phone, asking her to withdraw large sums of cash, according to the cantonal prosecution for economic crimes and the Bernese cantonal police. The case is one of over 70 calls which have been reported by local citizens in the Bern…
This content was published on
Cézanne’s The Boy in the Red Vest and Degas’ Count Lepic and His Daughters, the most and least valuable of the stolen works, are still missing. Two paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet were found in an abandoned vehicle in a psychiatric clinic’s car park on Monday afternoon, according to local police. The…
This content was published on
Diamonds in a meteorite that exploded over Sudan in 2008 provide compelling evidence of an early ‘lost planet’, scientists say.
This content was published on
The 15 people on trial are facing charges that include theft of gold, handling stolen goods, forging watches, robbery and possible extortion. Two, who live abroad, did not appear. The complex case which includes some of the leading watch groups as plaintiffs – Rolex, Richemont, Cartier and Frank Muller – is set to last five…
This content was published on
The private Bührle collection opened its doors to the media on Tuesday – two days after the audacious armed robbery. A white wall with scratch marks was all that was to be seen of the four missing pictures. In all, art worth SFr180 million ($165 million) was stolen at gunpoint from the Zurich museum on…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.