Wired on the Antwerp Diamond Heist

With one week to go to our own safe opening weekend, a very nice article in Wired to get in the mood.

Wired on the Antwerp Diamond Heist


Fascinating stuff! Still reading and sifting trough all the details myself … A must read!

9 Responses to “Wired on the Antwerp Diamond Heist”

  1. Mitch Capper says:

    *cough*Time Lock*cough* 😉

    Certainly an interesting read and not how I would have assumed they would attack a place like this.

  2. mh says:

    Very interesting read indeed, thanks for sharing!

    There’s two things I don’t fully understand – the role of Mr. Notarbartolo: master mind? driver? the guy who would be caught later on surveillance videos spraying the motion detector?
    And how an insurance company would accept that type of home-made alarm system for this type of risk. Sensors that are mounted on the outside and can be screwed off. One (1) motion detector that’s optimized for false-alarm prevention, without anti-masking features. Cameras that don’t record anything because the lights are switched off.
    Strange.

    Cheers,
    mh

  3. Henk says:

    I remember a story that happened in the early seventies in France,there a team used the sewersystem to get into a bankvault.
    And ofcourse there is the story of our Age M here in the Netherlands.
    what I like about stories like this,there is the use of the mind instead of blazing guns,no violence.
    Still,what they do is forbidden and the consequences can be jailtime,it proofs that if one thinks long enough nothing is impossible,look at high security locks,100% pickproof,manipulationproof and still now and then someone stands up and says:OPEN!!!But this is another story,;-)

  4. raimundo says:

    The story is that he was taken to a place by the ‘insider’ where a complete mockup of the interior of the vault wss, nothing from this installation appears in the photos of the trash in the woods, it magicallly appeared when notobartolo was shown it. such a mockup made from photographs would be useless, but made from the blueprints, with attachments for the security layers applied over time after the place was built It could have been useful.
    No time lock,
    magnetic contacts on the exterior of the vault, rather than in the vault?

    Yes, this was an inside job so the story of the insider tracks. the guys who got caught were set up by the real thieves who had access and there should be records of them coming to get thier stuff, video too, but you can easily carry millions of dollars in large D stones in a pocket of a suitcoat.

    To me, it looks like it may have been the mossad with their history of working with israeli organize crime, perhaps to fund some off the budget operations, read Victor Ostroskys book “beyond deception”

  5. Cybergibbons says:

    It’s an interesting story, but it’s hard to know what is truth and what is to cover the tracks of an insider.

    I think it’s particularly implausible that a camera was placed to read the combination. It’s described as one where “the digits could be seen only through a small lens on the top of the wheel”. The video quality of “a fingertip-sized video camera” mounted in a recessed light (so at least 3 feet away, likely more) could ever see the combination accurately enough.

    I’ve already posted my thoughts about the security of the actual vault, which is pretty bad…
    http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/03/the_story_of_th.html#c356959

  6. TheSkyer says:

    I just think it’s funny “The Key Man” got away, show’s there’s still a future out there for me…..

  7. The whole story reads like an ideal script for the next ocean’s $number movie!

  8. Frelon says:

    I come from security business. When I started reading I was excited because I expected to read facts how it was done. Soon I realized it’s only a crime novel. I agree with comments saying that story has many technical leaks. Also, check torn paper where you can see purchasing of magnetic contacts (comment says by Notobartolo). And Notobartolo says he was brought by someone to “copy of safe” and he was very surprised how someone installed the same system. For such robbery you need an insider.

  9. mrlee says:

    the story is obviously bogus, but some aspects ring true, as in regarding exterior mounted magnetic switches. this is the NORM in a UL listed alarm system. these contacts are TAMPERED as well as have a BIAS. you cannot just unscrew them or jump them out. and cable not in protected EMT (conduit)! unheard of! it’s not even a good story once you pick it all apart. i could go on (have been in electronic security for over 40 years), just enjoy the “story”, cause that’s all it is, a story.