Movie Criminals Live!

Most crime is so mundane, so stupid even, that it is startling to read about really smart crooks pulling off a really big job:

Eight masked gunmen made a hole in a security fence at Brussels’ international airport, drove onto the tarmac and snatched some $50 million worth of diamonds from the hold of a Swiss-bound plane without firing a shot, authorities said Tuesday.

The gang used two black cars in their daring raid late Monday, grabbed the cache of stones and sped off into the darkness, said Anja Bijnens, spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office. “They tried to pass themselves off as police officers,” Bijnens said. They reportedly wore outfits which resembled dark police clothing and both cars had blue lights on top, she said. Police found one burnt-out vehicle close to the airport later Monday night and said they were still looking for clues.

 The heist was estimated at some $50 million in diamonds, said Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre. “What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum,” De Wolf said. An airport spokesman said the robbers made a hole in the perimeter fence and drove up to the Swiss passenger plane, which was ready to leave. The robbers got out of the car, flashed machine guns at pilots and security transport workers before taking the loot from the hold, which was accessed from outside. Without firing a shot they drove off through the same hole in the fence, completing the spectacular theft within barely five minutes, Bijnens said.

This reminds me of the famous theft of 13 masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, or the Antwerp Diamond Heist of 2003.

I suppose we should be happy that geniuses are as rare in crime as in every other endeavor.