Perfect Crime Loses Its Sparkle As Bin Bag Yields Vital Clues

The gang of thieves who pulled off the biggest theft of gems that the diamond-cutting capital of the world has seen planned the robbery for more than two years and escaped with a haul worth some £68m, it emerged yesterday.

The chief suspect in the Antwerp robbery case is an Italian jeweller from Turin. He rented an office in Antwerp's diamond centre, where dozens of clients store their gems, as long ago as November 2000 so that he could case the joint and crack its security systems, the Belgian authorities said.

The robbers emptied 123 of the centre's 160 safes of diamonds, gold and cash and yet the alarm did not sound, security guards saw nothing , and the vault door was not forced. Four people - three Italian and one Dutch - have since been arrested.

"The thieves acted with a great deal of professionalism," a spokeswoman for Antwerp's public prosecutor said.

"The man we consider to be the ringleader, an Italian aged about 50, set himself up in Antwerp from November 2000. He rented offices in the diamond centre in the name of a phantom firm, and thanks to his comings and goings he was able to analyse the security systems."

He obtained copies of keys and security passes, found a way of disabling the alarm system, and discovered the combination to the main vault door.

That man was named in the Belgian press yesterday as Leonardi Notarbartolo, a jeweller from Turin. His accomplices were named as his wife Adriana Crudo, a Sicilian called Antonino Falletti, and his Dutch wife Judith Zwiep.

The police believe that the four may well have had help from other accomplices who have since fled back to Italy.

"It is pretty clear that those who executed the crime came over from Italy, and our investigation is now centring on them," said Eric Sack, Antwerp's judicial director.

"We would describe it as a piece of genius in its simplicity, not least because the security system was so thoroughly analysed."

As well as switching the CCTV security tapes for older ones on the way out to cover their tracks, the thieves had put masking tape on the cameras.

The authorities have made no secret of their admiration for the "artistry" involved in the robbery - which has added to surprise that it was an elementary error by the robbers which led to their capture. A bin bag dumped on the side of the motorway between Antwerp and Brussels apparently gave them away.

The bag contained references to the diamond centre; CCTV tapes and security passes; and a document referring to the delivery of security equipment to an Italian firm owned by a certain Mr Notarbartolo.

"What more clues could be needed to pick up the trail?" wondered the daily La Dernière Heure yesterday. "So much ingenuity spoilt by so much carelessness."

None of the stolen gems has been recovered.