ABN AMRO stolen diamonds

LAST NEWS suspect arrested in ABN AMRO theft

Officials say suspect in Antwerp heist was a longtime trusted customer

A branch of the Dutch bank ABN Amro in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp was closed on Monday after $28 million in diamonds were stolen from the building last week.Michel Wiegandt / AFP - Getty Images

Man Steals $28 Million From Antwerp Bank

Monday March 12, 2007 6:31 PM By AOIFE WHITE Associated Business Writer found at http://www.guardian.co.uk

A portrait of the man suspected of the Anwerp diamonds robbery in which $35 million dollars worth of diamonds were stolen.
Photo: Reuters

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - A man stole $28 million worth of diamonds from an Antwerp bank where he had been a trusted customer for a year using a stolen Argentine passport, officials said Monday.

Prosecutors say the suspect broke into safety deposit boxes in an ABM Amro bank in the city's diamond quarter last week. He made off with diamonds weighing 120,000 carats, police said.

Police believe he may have carefully planned the robbery, becoming one of several trusted diamond traders with access to the vault. The suspect had been a regular customer at the bank for the past year, giving the name Carlos Hector Flomenbaum from Argentina.

Authorities now believe that he was using a false identity because a passport in that name was stolen in Israel a few years ago.

The branch of the Dutch bank ABN Amro in the diamond district of Antwerp, Belgium

Police offered a $2 million reward for tips on the man's whereabouts. They released a composite photo of a gray-haired man, 6 feet 3 inches tall and aged between 55 and 60. They said he speaks English with an American accent and often wears a baseball cap, and they are appealing to anyone who got to know him during his time in the city to come forward.

The bank discovered the theft on March 5, believing that someone took the stones that Monday morning or the previous Friday from a vault used by pawnbrokers and diamond cutters.

Police did not say why they waited over a week before making the theft public, nor did they mention who had put up the reward money.

In 2003, in the world's largest safe-deposit box theft, thieves in Antwerp pried open 123 boxes, finding so much loot they could only carry away $100 million worth of diamonds, gold and jewelry.

More than half the world's diamonds are traded in Antwerp's gem district, a maze of tiny streets hugging the main train station. Its turnover of $23 billion a year makes it one of the densest concentrations of valuables on earth.

Jewish traders have been there for five centuries. Bearded men in broad black hats still predominate, but Indian dealers have also moved in to the many trading houses and glittering gem stores.

Huge deals are sealed with a handshake and most of the diamond trade is done on trust without a trace of paper. However, that trust is reinforced with heavy security - briefcases handcuffed to wrists, cameras filming the milling crowds from many angles, a special police station, and circles of steel pillars at both ends of the district.

By John Martens and Joram Kanner March 12 ,2007 found at http://www.bloomberg.com

(Bloomberg) -- Belgian police were searching for a middle-aged man suspected of stealing $28 million of diamonds from an ABN Amro Holding NV bank vault in Antwerp, and are investigating whether he had inside help.

The city prosecutor's office said a 2 million-euro ($2.64 million) reward was being offered for the apprehension of the suspect in the March 5, 2007 theft. Prosecutors said the suspect spoke with an American accent and used an Argentine passport which was stolen in Israel a few years ago.

``A very large batch of uncut and cut diamonds, totaling 120,000 carats, was seized,'' the Antwerp prosecutor's office said in an e-mailed statement today. ``The total value is estimated at $28 million.''

The diamond theft is the second-largest on record in Antwerp, the heart of Belgium's $29 billion diamond industry. Four years ago, thieves looted 123 vaults at the Antwerp Diamond Center and seized more than 100 million euros ($132 million) worth of diamonds.

Brigitte Seegers, an ABN Amro spokeswoman in Amsterdam, confirmed the prosecutor's report about the theft and declined further comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. ABN Amro is the largest Dutch bank.

``The stolen diamonds were owned by eight Antwerp-based diamond trading companies and given as a pledge to bank loans,'' said Philip Claes, a spokesman of the trade group Antwerp World Diamond Center, by phone. He declined to identify those companies.

Suspect Details

The main suspect in the March 5 theft is a regular client of the ABN Amro branch in Antwerp, and was the last person to visit the vault room on March 2 and the first to enter on March 5, according to the prosecutor's statement. The suspect used a false identity in his contacts with the bank, where people knew him as Argentinian Carlos Hector Flomenbaum, the prosecutor's statement said.

The prosecutor's office said it's searching for a tall man, between 55-years old and 60-years old, who speaks English with an American accent and has white and gray hair.

``A reward of 2 million euros has been offered for information leading to the prosecution'' of the thief or thieves, Dominique Reyniers, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said in a telephone interview. She declined to say who offered the reward.

``Among the diamonds stolen was a 133 carat uncut diamond, which would be very difficult to sell in the market,'' said Claes, adding that information identifying the gems would be sent to all diamond trading centers in the world.

The batch also included 41 blue-colored so-called brilliants and two naturally green-colored, pear-shaped gems, according to Claes.

John Martens in Brussels