The raid at Brussels airport happened just before 8pm on Monday. The heavily armed men drove through the airport security fence in two vehicles, a Mercedes van and a car, and made straight for a Brink's delivery van. The staff were loading safes full of diamonds on to a Swiss plane bound for Zurich. The gunmen quickly filled their vehicles with the boxes and fled through the same broken security barrier. No shots were fired. A burned-out van was later found nearby. The raid lasted just three minutes. The exact value of brute diamonds, believed to hail from Antwerp, was uncertain, but estimates put it at £30m ($50m). "What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum," Caroline De Wolf of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre told the Belgian VRT network.
But unfortunately that is not why. While it sounds like a Hollywood story where Robin Hood will share the wealth at the expense of a horrible and amoral corporation, the reality is inevitably very different. Organised criminal groups across Europe are often involved across different types of criminal activity, including human trafficking and drug smuggling. The cost of an operation such as this is huge (pay offs, equipment, information), and they would have inevitably funding this through other crimes. The diamonds were being transported and the liability for the loss will fall with the carrier and their insurers. Don't think that this is a good news story; the individual victims of these criminal groups will be suffering more than the balance sheets of the diamond and security companies involved.
I've forgotten more about DeBeers than most people will ever know. So when I say that I would choose to save the life of the president of NAMBLA over the president of DeBeers, believe it.
I would cheer if the mutherfucking KKK took down a DeBeers shipment. If they got to fuck over an insurance company while they were at it? Bully for them.
I don't doubt your hatred for a shameful corporation.
However, DeBeers will receive payment for the overinflated value from Brinks, who assumed liability the moment they took possession of the diamonds. The loss will be underwritten by numerous insurance companies. DeBeers will appear a victim and their clients will not blame them for the failure to fulfil their orders. This will not hurt their accounts, which is the only thing they care about.
In contrast, the personal victims of organised crime groups in Europe have lost everything; their freedom, their relationships, their security, their health and their lives. People that commit these crimes are no better than those at DeBeers that you detest for compromising those same human rights. And while they remain at large, they remain unaccountable for their actions.
- However, DeBeers will receive payment for the overinflated value from Brinks
...and their rates will go up for future insurance. Brinks, meanwhile, will file a claim with Zurich Re, who will in turn raise Brinks' rates. Meanwhile, a bunch of thugs dump $50m worth of diamonds on the black market at 20 cents on the dollar and provide downward pressure on an artificial monopoly that costs hundreds of lives a year in the most deprived corner of the world.
I recognize and understand that you want to paint a Mafiya boogeyman all over this thing but the fact of the matter is, we don't know who lifted the diamonds. We do know who lost them. I don't care how many times you've seen EASTERN PROMISES the fact remains that DeBeers deserves all the bad trade they can handle and more and while it sure sucks to be sold into slavery by ex-Spetsnaz thugs (I've read Larssen too) that shit isn't what the article is about.
So the next time you feel like segueing into "eastern European crime syndicates" kindly do it on your own time. And the next time you feel like schooling me on economics, get your powerpoint in order first because I gotta tell ya, man - your arguments are not compelling.
Fuck DeBeers.
My first hand experience in this area is slightly more comprehensive than a few films and the economic points I raised are valid. Granted they may not be well articulated or make for interesting reading. The reason for the original comment was to counter the positive portrayal of the title and previous comments. It is relevant because I believed it to be so, and because this is a site for discussion and opinion. I apologise that you felt like I was trying to school you, I was simply sharing my opinion on the matter.
If it were fiction, people would think, "no way it could be that easy."
It's not surprising that its been made in to two movies. It reads like a script:
- On December 11, at 3:12 a.m., cargo agent Kerry Whalen, returning from making a transfer at American Airlines, spotted a black Ford Econoline van backed into the ramp door. When Whalen walked toward the van to investigate, two men, without masks or gloves, brutally struck him over the head with pistols. Whalen had his navy hat pulled down to his chin and was thrown into the van, where a third robber was waiting. Another person took his wallet and said they knew where his family was and they had others ready to visit them. Whalen nodded to indicate that he would cooperate with the robbers
One of the more entertaining Wikipedia pages I've read.