What was the biggest diamond heist ever and how many diamonds did the thieves make off with?

The biggest diamond heist in the world took place in Antwerp, Belgium in 2003. The thieves made off with a whopping $100 million in loose diamonds. A handful of them were caught however, and get to spend a good few years dreaming of how they could have spent the proceeds - as the stolen diamonds themselves were never found. Antwerp is considered the diamond capital of the world, with some 80% of all diamonds in the world passing through the European city at some point. Many of these diamonds are stored for safe keeping at the Antwerp Diamond Center's underground vault at some point. The vault has 160 safety deposit boxes used by diamond brokers. The heist was carried out by at least four co-conspirators, known as the School of Turin, who spent years of planning before going through with it. The gang of thieves is known for The thieves rented an office in the building and learned the alarm system from up close and figured out how to bypass it. Somehow they managed to attain keys to the vault, probably through collaboration with an inside source. On the day of the robbery, they recorded over the security tapes and let themselves into the vault, pouring hundreds of thousands of diamonds into sacks until they couldn't even carry any more. The thieves left the vault strewn with loose diamonds, and 37 of the 160 vaults were left undisturbed because they simply could not carry any more booty. Unfortunately for them, one of the thieves left his DNA on a sandwich found near the discarded bags that they had used to transport the loot, and another left his DNA at the crime scene. The police were able to catch up with them in Italy, hauling them off to prison. The $100 millions in diamonds was never located.

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Actually, there was a major diamond heist in Amsterdam in 2005, which may be worth up to $118 million, although the loot was in rough diamonds so the total value is unconfirmed. The scam took place at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, and was a straight up carjacking. The thieves procured KLM uniforms, and broke into the airport's freight area driving a KLM truck. They simply approached the truck laden with diamonds, forced the drivers out at gunpoint, hopped into the front seat and drove away, never to be seen again. The heist was probably an inside job, because the thieves managed to procure the KLM uniforms and truck, and somehow knew which truck to target. What, are you planning a heist or something?

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