Robbers who stole $50 million worth of diamonds from a Brink's armoured truck at Brussels International Airport in Belgium were disguised as cops, Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday.
Few men (as actual number is still unknown) came in two black vehicles with police markings, wearing police uniforms.
They forced their way through security barriers and moved towards a Helvetic Airways plane, which was about to take off. Gems were being loaded on this plane.
Robbers then pointed their guns at the Brink's driver, as well as at the pilots and copilots on the Swiss airliner, forced open the cargo and stole the around 120 packages.
Though they were equipped with machine guns, no shots were fired and no one was hurt.
Robbers then ran away in the same vehicles they came in.
Brussels district attorney's office released a statement that read, "The assailants pulled off the robbery in a scant 5 minutes and sped away in two vehicles fitted with sirens".
"One of the vehicles used in the robbery was found totally burned-out later in Zellick, northwest of Brussels," statement added.
"Stolen shipment was coming from Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC) by road and the gems and other objects of value were to be transferred and flown to Zurich", Caroline de Wolf, spokeswoman to Antwerp said.
"Robbers stole rough and cut diamonds worth some $50 million", she added.
The total value of the truck, between diamonds and other items in the shipment is being amounted to some 350 million euros ($468.35 million).
Caroline said, "AWDC was very concerned about what happened, which it believes raises many questions about airport security in Brussels, through which diamonds worth between $150 million and $200 million are shipped every day".
Antwerp is the world hub for the diamond trade, both for jewelry and for industrial purposes.
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