Valencia arrests 12 years after Dutch airport multi-million diamond robbery

An armed robbery on February 25, 2005 at Amsterdam's Schipol airport on a blacked-out and armour-plated vehicle belonging to the Dutch national airline KLM took place on a maximum-security runway, and led to a haul of diamonds worth US$72m being seized by a masked gang.

The diamonds had been on their way to nearby Amberes for sale in jewellers' shops.

Part of the stash was later recovered in a getaway car, but the remainder, worth about US$43m (€40m) was never found.

It was described as the largest diamond robbery in history, and sparked widespread criticism about security levels at Schipol, given that an armed gang had managed to enter an area only accessible to employees with a special pass.

Initially, seven suspects were arrested, but released after a court was unable to find evidence to incriminate them, and the case was closed in 2006 due to an absence of clues leading to the culprits.

But in 2016, a decade after the inquiry was given up as a lost cause, police obtained fresh data allowing them to reopen the case, according to Dutch State TV channel NOS.

Police in Spain have now just revealed that seven arrests have been made in connection with the case, although it is not clear whether they are the same seven people originally taken into custody.

Some were detained in Valencia and some in Amsterdam yesterday (Saturday) and on Friday, and are said to be five men and two women, all Dutch nationals.