The Greatest Diamond Heists in History

It sounds like a scene out of an action flick: two stylish men in gray suits saunter into a London jewelry store, hold the place at gunpoint, fire two shots into the air, then make a clean getaway with 40 million pounds ($65 million) worth of diamonds and jewelry! With 43 rings, necklaces, watches and bracelets – this was the biggest diamond heist in history. The target was London's exclusive Graff jewelry store on the posh New Bond Street, whose jewels have graced the necks, ears and wrists of dozens of glamorous celebrities, including Kylie Minogue, Paris Hilton, Naomi Campbell and Oprah Winfrey.

The diamond plunder included a yellow diamond floral necklace, double hoop diamond earrings, a Marquise diamond ring and a men's Chronograph 45mm wrist watch. A few weeks of intensive detective work, and thanks to video cameras that caught the whole shenanigan on tape, London police have nabbed three men in connection with the diamond raid – 24, 26 and 42 years old. You have to admit, didn't you half hope they'd get away with it?

Actually, diamond heists occur more frequently than you'd think, and in a lot of cases, the bandits actually get away with it. Or at least, if they do get caught, police rarely ever uncover the stolen diamonds and jewelry. Whether the robbers themselves ever get to feast on their earnings is another question though… Hollywood, however, might have you believe that pocketing millions of dollars worth of diamonds is a snap. A slick suit, a handgun, a racy getaway car – and you're in the money.

In real life, though, planning a heist is no small feat. It requires meticulous planning, engineering, research – and lots of guts. Not any small-time street criminal can pull off a clean diamond raid. So how do they do it? Here's a look at the five biggest diamond heists in history. One thing they have in common – they're all suspected to be inside jobs.

Diamond Heist #1 The Hague, Museon Museum of Science, 2002. The museum was hosting an extraordinary diamond exhibition, showcasing royal diamonds and jewelry lent to the museum by other museums and private collectors. After a long weekend (the museum is closed on Mondays), staff arrived on Tuesday morning to discover 28 empty display cases! Although the museum was equipped with 24-hour security cameras, guards monitoring the entrances and motion detectors – the thieves didn't leave a trace. Worth about $12 million, the Hague robbery remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the century.

Diamond Heist #2 Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, 2005.

This one was a simple carjacking of a truck carrying diamonds headed for Antwerp. Disguised in KLM uniforms, the thieves drove up to the vehicle carrying the diamonds, forced them out at gunpoint, then drove off into the horizon, with about $118 million worth of uncut gems. Not bad for a day's work..

Diamond Heist #3 Damiani jewelry showroom, Italy, 2008.

The world-famous jewelry showroom was infiltrated from underground, when the thieves drilled through the 4-foot wall separating the showroom from the next-door basement. Since road construction going on nearby, no one suspected the drilling sounds meant anything unusual. Dressed as policemen, the thieves pounced on the staff – unarmed (!), and had one employee open the safe, raking in $20 million of gold, rubies and diamonds. They would have netted even more if some of the priciest pieces hadn't been on loan to glimmer on the red carpet for the Oscars.

Diamond Heist #4 Antwerp Diamond Center, Belgium, 2003.

Thieves raid 160 safety deposit boxes in the world's diamond capital making off with $100 million worth of diamonds, after years of planning. They rented an office in the building in 2000, learned how to bypass the alarm system, got keys to the vaults and made copies, etc – once again an inside job. The made one screw-up though – they left their DNA at the crime scene, and police caught up with them in Italy. The diamonds, however, are still at large.

Diamond Heist #5 ABN Amro Bank, Belgium, 2007.

The bank's favorite client, a charming 60-year-old "businessman", earned VIP access to the vault, then walks off one day with 120,000 carats in uncut diamonds, worth about $28 million. The booty included rare green and blue diamonds.