THE HAGUE, Netherlands — An international investigation is focusing on a gang of thieves suspected of being responsible for a multimillion-dollar jewelry theft from an art exhibition in the Netherlands and two stolen gemstones have been recovered, it was announced Wednesday the Dutch police.
Nearly two years ago, at an international art fair in Maastricht, in the south of the Netherlands, smartly dressed thieves wielding sledgehammers snatched jewelry from shop windows, sparking an international police operation to track them down and recover the loot, which police say is worth tens of millions of dollars. dollars.
In its latest update on the progress of the investigation, police in the southern Dutch province of Limburg said they had now determined the location of the thieves, who they believed came from the Balkans.
“It is now clear that this concerns Serbia, and more specifically the city of Nis. It cannot be ruled out that the suspects are currently staying there, but perhaps also in Belgrade or its surroundings,” the police said in a statement.
The investigation team also said that a diamond from a necklace stolen during the theft was found in Israel and another in Hong Kong. Last year, police reported the discovery of one of the diamonds, but gave no further details at the time.
“The two diamonds were seized for examination,” police said in a statement Wednesday, without giving details on when the stones were recovered.
Police previously revealed they were looking for four men and said on Wednesday that a woman was also suspected in the robbery.
Two other women are under investigation for allegedly returning a rental car to a company near the airport in the German city of Frankfurt. The two women are “at the moment not suspects in the investigation into the theft”, the police said.
ABC News
