Belgian police offered a $2.6 million reward Monday for information that will help located a man who stole $28 million in diamonds from an Antwerp bank last week.
The ABN Amro bank discovered the theft on March 5, 2007. It is believed that the stones were taken either Monday morning or the previous Friday from safety deposit boxes in the vault. It is estimated that 120,000 carats were stolen.
It is clear that the man had been planning the robbery for sometime. He had carefully gained the trust of bank employees for the past year and had become one of several trusted diamond traders who were given access to the vault by electronic card. He went by the name Carlos Hector Flomenbaum from Argentina. This is now believed by the authorities to have been a false identity because a passport in the same name was stolen from Israel a few years ago.
A composite photo has been released, of a gray-haired man, 6 foot, 3 inches tall and aged between 55 and 60. The man is said to speak English with an American accent and often wears a baseball cap. The Belgian police are appealing to anyone who may have gotten to know the man during his time in the city to come forward.
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