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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
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| 2007-03-20 |
| A conman, armed only with chocolates and charm, got into a bank vault and made off with diamonds worth over £15 million. A £1.37 million reward has been offered for information on the smooth-talking, grey-haired thief, who posed as Carlos Hector Flomenbaum, an Argentinian businessman. Police believe the raid was planned for over a year and could be the largest robbery committed by one person. Philip Claes, spokesman for the Diamond High Council in Antwerp, said despite the city's ABN Amro bank having one of the most sophisticated security systems in the world, the conman found the weak spot: "He used no violence. He used one weapon - his charm - to gain confidence. He bought chocolates for the personnel, he was a nice guy, he charmed them, got the original of keys to make copies and got information on where the diamonds were." The 120,000-carat haul included both cut and uncut diamonds. More than half the world's diamonds are traded by Antwerp's dealers in business worth £12 billion a year. "In the diamond sector, we trust the people we are working with. Sometimes we pay the price for that," said Mr Claes. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Let's do the math: 120K Carats of gems = 52.9 easily transported pounds = $43M in wide open Europe Versus: 100 Kilos = 220 pounds of very heavy gold = $1.7M in tightly controlled Japan My money's on Mr. Charm. That gold will have to be smelted and recast. Mr. Charm can sell off individual stones to unsuspecting customers with the greatest of ease. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-20 19:16 |
| #4 wouldn't be too hard tooo fence if you knew the right ppl like say the local bookie who knows the mob boss |
| Posted by: sinse 2007-03-20 10:54 |
| #3 Its tough to understand the intellect that goes into something like this when you can only breath out of your mouth. |
| Posted by: Flaimp Fleremble4835 2007-03-20 10:20 |
| #2 It's small potatoes and way too much work for a guy using his brain instead of his brawn. But on the other hand it's easier to fence I suppose, that's worth something. Is it even possible to fence something like that? You'd get busted eventually I would think, especially on the cut stuff. I wonder how much that would be worth on the street. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-03-20 02:53 |
| #1 PSST, Mr Charm man, if you're looking for some precious metal for setting your diamonds, there's a gang in Takayama, Japan that can make you a good deal on 100kg of gold. |
| Posted by: GK 2007-03-20 01:28 |