Brussels airport heist nets $50m in diamonds

Machine-gun toting robbers disguised as cops made off with $50 million worth of diamonds in a spectacular heist on the tarmac at Brussels airport, prosecutors and dealers said yesterday.
Monday night's robbery at Zaventem airport was "one of the biggest" ever, said a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the global dealers syndicate.
The raid saw a gang of eight "heavily-armed and hooded" thieves pull up on the runway in two black vehicles with blue police-like markings, Brussels prosecutors' spokeswoman Anja Bijnens told a press conference at Zaventem airport.
They opened security barriers and sped towards a Swiss passenger aircraft on the runway where they forced open the cargo hold to reach the rough gems that had already been loaded, she said.