Eight Due in Court over Belgian Diamond Heist
Eight people detained in an international sweep aimed at nailing those behind a spectacular $50-million diamond heist at Brussels airport will appear in court next week, a report said Thursday.
The Belga news agency, citing the prosecutors office, gave no details of the charges they could face.
The authorities have released another 16 people picked up in connection with the dramatic February robbery after questioning, the agency added.
More than 30 people were initially detained by police in Belgium, France and Switzerland in raids which recovered a large quantity of diamonds and cash, officials said Wednesday.
The February 18 robbery at Brussels' Zaventem airport was described as "one of the biggest" ever by the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC), the global dealers' syndicate based in the Belgian port city.
A heavily-armed and hooded gang pulled up in a car on a runway at around 8:00 pm where a Brinks' armored vehicle had just unloaded Antwerp diamonds into a Swiss passenger aircraft about to take off for Zurich.
In an operation that lasted barely 10 minutes and without a shot fired, the men forced open the hold of the plane and removed some 120 boxes of diamonds.
The gang, posing as police officers, had cut through the airport's perimeter fence and made off with the haul of $50 million dollars (38 million euros) in gems.
A Swiss statement Wednesday said a businessman and a Geneva lawyer were among eight people being held there.
Source: Agence France Presse
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