According to the police, two of them were arrested shortly after the robbery: a 22-year-old and a 26-year-old man, both from Belgium. They drove in a gray vehicle with a Belgian license plate, which was pulled over on the A2 in front of the Willem Alexandertunnel in Maastricht. The police also report that jewelry has been stolen, but that no additional details have been provided.
On Twitter there is a video shared showing part of the robbery. A man hits a display case with an axe, presumably a second does the same at a display case nearby. Two other robbers keep bystanders at bay with weapons. It seems that the first two take some from the damaged display cases and put it in bags, after which the four run away. They wore no masks, only glasses and caps.
The robbery took place at the stand of the English jeweler Symbolic & Chase. Based on London’s Old Bond Street, it offers an ‘eclectic collection of fine jewelery and objets d’art’, according to the website, ‘conceived with an anthropological eye and with an emphasis on jewelery as art’.
According to Tefaf, the robbery took place around 11.30 am. The stock market was evicted after the robbery. An hour and a half later, the organization announced that all evacuees had been allowed back into the building.
Un casse à la Tefaf Maastricht en pleine journée : the showcases d’un stand de bijoux fracassé à la masse, deux truands menaçant avec des armes pour protéger leur complice. Ils se sont enfuis par le restaurant… pic.twitter.com/qY4ounavdf
— La Tribune de l’Art (@ltdla) June 28, 2022
Jewelery has already been stolen several times at the art fair in Maastricht. In 2011, a piece of jewelry was stolen from the stand of an Italian jeweler. The police and exhibitor did not disclose any further details at the time. In 2010, just before the end of the stock market, a platinum ring with diamonds and a pendant was taken from the London antiques and jewelery dealer Hancocks, which together had a sales value of 860,000 euros.
In 2008, thieves got away with a diamond necklace that was even more expensive: 1.2 million euros. Police arrested five people, including two women from Mexico. They were sentenced to 15 months in prison. The three others were acquitted for lack of evidence. According to the Public Prosecution Service, it was an international gang of art and jewelry thieves.
The Tefaf, short for The European Fine Art Foundation, is one of the most important art and antiques fairs in the world. Since 1988, it has been organized annually in the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Center) in Maastricht. An annual fair in New York has been added since 2016.
The art fair opened last Saturday (for the first time since the corona pandemic) and will last until Thursday. There are 242 dealers on the stock exchange, who often sell works of art and antiques worth millions.