The Dutch police have announced the recovery of two diamonds following a shocking heist at one of Europe’s most prestigious art fairs, TEFAF Maastricht, in 2022. The suspected perpetrators are still on the loose but authorities have revealed that, as well as four men who fled the scene of the crime, they are now searching for one woman suspect and are investigating two other women.
Furthermore, the police had previously announced that the suspects were from the Balkans. They now have strong evidence to narrow this down to Serbia, where they may now be in hiding.
“We have taken major and important steps in the investigation,” the police told NL Times. “The international component of this investigation makes that everything takes a long time because we have to follow international procedures and regulations.”
Un casse à la Tefaf Maastricht en pleine journée : des vitrines d’un stand de bijoux fracassé à la masse, deux truands menaçant avec des armes pour protéger leur complice. Ils se sont enfuis par le restaurant… pic.twitter.com/qY4ounavdf
— La Tribune de l’Art (@ltdla) June 28, 2022
The art world was left reeling on June 30, 2022 when the calm and rarefied atmosphere of TEFAF, which exudes a mix of elegance and affluence, was quite literally shattered by a troupe of mallet-wielding thieves. Four armed men had somehow gained entry into the fair and began smashing the glass protective case on the booth of Symbolic & Chase from London.
More amazingly still, the group managed to flee the scene with 10 pieces of swag worth tens of millions of dollars, Dutch authorities estimate. The most valuable item was a necklace containing a 114-carat diamond valued at €27 million ($29 million), although this figure has been contested.
According to an online update by the local Politie Limburg, the recovered jewels were from this necklace. One was found in Israel while the other was tracked down in Hong Kong. A third jewel had previously been found in March 2023. None of these was the prized yellow diamond.
Soon after the incident, the local police announced that they were looking for four male suspects. They are also looking for one woman who is suspected of being an accomplice after camera footage records showed her seated inside a rental car with some of the male suspects.
Another two women are being investigated after it was found that they returned one of the getaway cars that had been rented by the criminals to a car rental company near Frankfurt airport in Germany.
Since 2023, the insurance company’s investigation agency Charles Taylor Adjusting has been offering a £500,000 ($534,495) reward for information that leads to the return of the jewels. The Limburg district court public prosecutor’s office is now also offering €20,000 for information that leads to the identification of the thieves. The relevant contact details are listed online.
A spokesperson for TEFAF declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
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