"Dutch airport boosts security after diamond heist"

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Dutch airport boosts security after diamond heist
By Wendel Broere


AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) - Military police are to guard valuable cargo at
Amsterdam's Schiphol airport after thieves hijacked an armoured truck in
what may have been the country's biggest ever diamond raid, the Dutch
government said on Tuesday.

The announcement came as a military police spokesman said the number of
detectives investigating Friday's robbery, in which Dutch media said
jewellery worth around 75 million euros ($99.10 million) was stolen, had
been doubled to 40 from 20.

The largest ever gem theft recorded by Guinness World Records resulted in an
estimated loss of $100 million when most of the vaults at the Antwerp
Diamond Centre in Belgium were emptied.

Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner announced the extra temporary
security measures in parliament, and said they included permanent
surveillance on cargo ramps and armed escorts for valuable goods.

He said Schiphol airport would try to bring forward the introduction of
passes for staff including biometric data such as iris-scans to this year
instead of 2006, and that employee screening by the intelligence service
would be more intensive.

Industry organisation Aircargo Nederland (ACN) said the robbery came as no
surprise given that military police have been told to concentrate on
fighting drug smuggling, human trafficking and preventing attacks.

"The transport of valuable goods is competing for supervision and control
with priorities set by politicians and the marechaussee (military police),"
Ben Radstaak of the ACN was quoted as saying in daily newspaper Het
Financieele Dagblad.

NO SHOT FIRED

Michel Einhorn of Cool Diamonds, who said he lost $1.2 million worth of
diamonds in the theft, told Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad he did not expect
them to be found again and criticised security at the airport.

"Experience shows that if gems are not found within 24 hours, they are never
found," he was quoted as saying.

"An airport is supposed to be amongst the most impenetrable places of the
land. It is unthinkable that armed men entered the terrain and then left
without a shot being fired. And I cannot even pass security with a nail
clipper," he added.

KLM security staff were threatened during the heist on Friday morning.
No-one was injured.

The armoured truck belonging to KLM Cargo was later found abandoned but the
thieves, who a source close to the investigation said were heavily armed,
remain at large.

Officials declined to put a figure to the value of the stolen goods, which
included jewellery and diamonds and were on their way to a flight bound for
world diamond centre Antwerp.

"We don't know the exact contents yet. Declarations from owners are still
coming in," military police spokesman Rob Stenacker said.

Airline KLM-Air France <AIRF.PA> said it would not give further details
while the investigation by Dutch police was continuing.

In September, South African police foiled an attempt by five gunmen to rob
KLM of valuable cargo at Johannesburg airport.

Last May, British police arrested seven men at Heathrow airport after
foiling an attempted gold heist. =


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