4 Shocking Jewelley Heists

​As leading specie insurers, we insure high value items such as jewellery (both private jewellery and jewellers block), fine art and cash in transit - all of which are items vulnerable to theft and James Bond-esque heists, as evidenced by the following  jewellery heists...

Source: Burohappold

​1. Millennium Dome, London, 2000 – $700m (almost)
Although this heist was thwarted by the British police, it's important to mention it due to the sheer scale of the attempt. Equipped with gas masks, a JCB digger and various other tools, a group of thieves broke into the newly opened Millennium Dome in an attempt to steal De Beer's world renowned Millennium Star diamond (weighing a hefty 203 carats), as well as 12 blue diamonds. 

The thieves let off tear gas in the entrance to prevent anyone entering the building, but little did they know the police were already inside. Thankfully, the police had been tipped off prior to the heist, meaning they were able to prepare by disguising themselves as cleaning crew and swapping out the diamonds with replicas. Once the thieves had sufficiently incriminated themselves, the police pounced and arrested the lot of them!

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​2. Graff Diamonds, London, 2009 — $65m
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Dressed in expensive suits, two men entered London's Graff diamonds store. Threatening the staff with handguns, they managed to walk away with over $65m of the store's most valuable items.
 
Although the men's faces were captured on CCTV, it was of no use to the police, as prior to the heist the men had visited a professional make-up artist, who had fitted them with a range of prosthetics to effectively conceal their identities. 

Thankfully, one of the criminals had left their mobile phone in the getaway vehicle, meaning the police were able to track and identify the two thieves as Solomon Beyene and Craig Calderwood.

This heist is considered to be the largest diamond heist in British history and is attributed to the world renowned Pink Panthers. 

Source: Natural Sapphire Company

Graff robbers caught on camera. Source: Natural Sapphire Company

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Source: guardian graphics

​3. Brussels Airport, 2013 — $50m

Whilst a plane bound for Zurich was being loaded with over $50m of precious stones, eight masked gunmen disguised as policemen, cut a hole in the airport fence, drove up to the plane and simply loaded the 130 bags of precious stones into their vehicle and drove off. 

​Since the heist, the Police have managed to round up 30 suspects across three different countries, recovering only a few of the stolen gems. 

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 4.  ABN Amro Bank, Antwerp, 2007 — $28m

In 2006, a seemingly successful businessman named Carlos Hector Flomenbaum started visiting Antwerp's ABN Amro bank on a regular basis. As a sweet, grey-haired older gentleman, he soon befriended the staff, beguiling them with stories from his past and showering them with luxury gifts and chocolate. 

Flomenbaum - now a regular visitor and good friend to the bank staff - somehow managed to get hold of a key to the bank's vaults and helped himself to the contents. He stole five boxes of uncut diamonds and walked away with $28 million. It was later discovered he was using a stolen passport. 

See image to the right  - a police composite sketch of prime suspect, Yehuda Mishali, who posed as Flomenbaum.

Source: earth and space news.

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