31 arrested over £32m diamond robbery at Brussels airport

[garbon]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/08/brussels-airport-diamond-robbery-arrests

A Europe-wide police manhunt following a daring diamond robbery in Brussels has resulted in 31 arrests in three countries.

Belgian police said the co-ordinated operations ended with 24 people arrested across Belgium, six in Switzerland, and one in France who was said to have taken part in the eight-man raid at Brussels' main airport in February which netted an estimated £32m worth of uncut gems.

Police said some of the diamonds were recovered in Switzerland, while many of the arrests in Belgium concerned individuals known to the authorities as members of Brussels' criminal underworld, some of them with records for armed attack.

The robbery was carried out with precision and speed on the evening of 18 February and appeared to have been carried out with detailed insider knowledge.

A Helvetica Airways passenger plane was gearing up for takeoff as the mainly uncut stones from Antwerp, the world's diamond trading centre half an hour's drive away, were loaded into the luggage hold from a Brinks security van.

The gang of eight masked and heavily armed men cut through the security fencing near the Swiss plane and also opened a nearby gate. They drove up in two black vehicles with blue police lights flashing, held the plane and Brinks staff at gunpoint, quickly opened the luggage hold, took 121 packets of diamonds and quickly made off.

The heist took 15 minutes without a shot being fired. One of the vehicles used in the robbery, a stolen Mercedes taxi, was later found burnt out and abandoned. The other, an Audi, bore a French number plate. Belgian police said on Wednesday that the man arrested in France was probably one of the gang of eight.

The ease and speed with which the robbery was carried out has raised questions about security at Zaventem airport outside Brussels.

The diamonds, bound for India via Zurich, were mainly uncut, meaning they carried no certification, making them harder to trace and easier to sell on.

"At least 10 of the men arrested in Belgium were known to the justice authorities, mainly for armed attacks. They were part of the Brussels criminal milieu," said a Brussels police spokesman, Jean-Marc Meilleur. "We're assuming that the man arrested in France is one of the perpetrators of the attack."

The Frenchman was arrested under a European arrest warrant and the Belgians are requesting his extradition, although it is not clear if the same applies to the six arrests in Switzerland.

[CountDeMoney]

That's way too many people involved in a caper like that not to eventually get caught.

[garbon]

I thought of Ocean's 11 multiplied a few times over.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Like Snatch, but without the hilarity.

[The Brain]

Who got the extra million?

[Caliga]

I thought of Ocean's 11 multiplied a few times over.

I thought of Goodfellas, which means I win since it's a far better movie.

[garbon]

I thought of Ocean's 11 multiplied a few times over.

I thought of Goodfellas, which means I win since it's a far better movie.

I've forgotten most of the plot of that movie.

[Berkut]

I dunno, it sounds like many of the 31 might be just "arresting the usual suspects" rather than people actually involved.

[Caliga]

I've forgotten most of the plot of that movie.

That's a shame.  One of the greatest movies of all time.... possibly *the* greatest IMO

[The Brain]

Goodfellas? Ethnic guys doing ethnic stuff. Yawn.

[Caliga]

Don't anger me, Dr. Doolittle.

[stjaba]

I thought of Ocean's 11 multiplied a few times over.

I thought of Goodfellas, which means I win since it's a far better movie.

If that was Goodfellas, everyone besides the Robert De Niro figure would have been dead.

[garbon]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/seven_prosecutors_cyber_crims_part_0yYcnTBSaqTe4zoasgyqXP

Seven NY cyber criminals part of $45m '21st century bank heist': prosecutors

Individuals employed around the world by a sophisticated cyber crime ring stole $45 million from thousands of bank automated teller machines within a matter of hours, using hacked debit-card data, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.

Members of the global criminal organization hacked into two credit card processors and used stolen data to make more than 40,500 withdrawals in 27 countries, during two separate coordinated incidents in December 2012 and February 2013, the Justice Department said.

The government charged eight individuals in New York with participating in the larger scheme by withdrawing $2.8 million in thousands of ATM transactions, in what U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said was the second-biggest bank robbery in the history of New York City.

Lynch said it was likely that the headquarters of the global scheme was located outside the United States and that the current charges focused only on the New York-based cell. Investigators were examining whether other cells were operating elsewhere in the United States, she said.

"In the place of guns and masks, this cyber crime organization used laptops and the Internet. Moving as swiftly as data over the Internet, the organization worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York City, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs in a matter of hours," said Lynch, whose office in Brooklyn, New York, brought the case.

The case demonstrates the major threat that cyber crime poses to banks around the world. Security experts frequently identify electronic fraud as one of the key challenges facing banks today.

"Hackers only need to find one vulnerability to cause millions of dollars of damage," said Mark Rasch, a former federal cyber crimes prosecutor, based in Bethesda, Maryland.

In the December attack, hackers gained access to an Indian credit card processor that handled prepaid Mastercard Inc debit cards for National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah PSC, or RAKBANK, according to a criminal indictment.

In February, the hackers broke into the system of a U.S.-based credit card processor to steal account numbers for prepaid Mastercard debit cards issued by Bank of Muscat, the indictment said.