Dutch police recover two diamonds stolen from Tefaf in 2022

Two diamonds that had been stolen on June 28, 2022, during a daring theft at TEFAF Maastricht, one of the world’s leading antiques fairs, have been recovered. At that edition, during one of the opening days, a group of four thieves had smashed the display case of the British gallery Symbolic & Chase, which specializes in jewelry and precious items: initially it seemed that the attempt had been foiled, but in fact the four thieves had managed to take away some jewelry, including a precious diamond necklace. And it was from the necklace that the two recovered diamonds apparently came: one was found in Israel, the other in Hong Kong. The value of the loot, Dutch police report, amounts to tens of millions of dollars.

Immediately after the theft, images of four different suspects had been released. In fact, camera images showed that several suspects had visited the fair on different days wearing different clothes. It is also known that two of the four had purchased entrance tickets. Criminal investigations show that the suspects used pseudonyms/false identities. Some are suspected of similar robberies in other European countries such as Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

Investigations have also shown that the number of suspects is greater than that of the four men previously involved in the jewelry theft. It is now clear that a woman is also a suspect in the robbery. In addition, two other women came into the picture when they returned one of the cars rented to carry out the theft to a car rental company near Frankfurt airport. Police have now traced, seized and examined the cars used in the heist: a Kia Ceed rented in Frankfurt and an Opel Astra rented in Charleroi, the latter of which was returned to Vienna. Both the Kia Ceed and the Opel Astra were parked in the parking lot on Salernolaan in Maastricht, a few hundred meters from the Tefaf headquarters, on June 28, 2022, the day of the theft.

Criminal investigations showed that the suspects remained in Belgium before and after the jewelry theft, moving between Liege and Verviers. In Verviers they stayed in a hotel and in Liege in accommodation rented through an online platform. They then fled to Serbia through Belgium, Germany, Austria and Hungary. It has already been indicated that the suspects came from the Balkans. Now, the Dutch police point out, “it is clear that it is Serbia, more specifically the city of Nis. It cannot be ruled out that the suspects currently reside there, but perhaps also in or around Belgrade.” The Limburg District Prosecutor’s Office is offering a sum of 20,000 euros to anyone who provides information or clues leading to the identification of the perpetrators of the June 28 robbery committed at Tefaf.

“We have taken important steps in the investigation, which continues to attract unprecedented attention in the (international) media and the art world,” says the head of the investigation. “In this way we know where the suspects are likely to be and where they stayed before and after the robbery. In addition, two diamonds have emerged. The international component of this investigation means that everything takes a long time, because as a team we have to follow international procedures and regulations.”

In the Limburg Police image, a moment after the June 28, 2022 robbery.

Dutch police recover two diamonds stolen from Tefaf in 2022

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