First things first, hit play and let's set the tone.
Eight armed and masked robbers made off with €37 million worth of diamonds in a heist that lasted only three minutes at Zaventem International Airport last night, and was one of the biggest diamond robberies ever according to AFP.
The eight men pulled up in two vehicles with police like markings after forcing their way through security barriers and heading for the Swiss passenger plane that was just about to take off, hauled 120 packages of diamonds into the two vehicles and sped away without any shots fired, zero injuries and all in a matter of minutes. The people on plane didn't even see a thing, which is unfortunate as the plane then of course did not leave the ground.
Apparently Belgium is the hub of diamond transport in the world, with over $200 million worth of the gems moving in and out of the country every day. While a sizeable haul, it's not the record. The biggest ever diamond heist happened in 2003 when €100 million worth of diamonds was stolen directly from the vaults of th Antwerp World Diamond Centre (which has to be the most spectacular heist ever).
To put that into context, you probably just spent longer reading this story than they did robbing the jewels. That's some serious Oceans Eleven level stuff going down. There's a Rihanna joke in here somewhere too, but we just can't find it. And a Shirley Bassey. We'll just let them play us out.
