‘Tefaf robbers grabbed a necklace worth 27 million’

The Maastricht police arrested two suspects on Tuesday afternoon of an armed robbery at the international art fair Tefaf Maastricht. Earlier in the day, at half past eleven in the morning, four men raided the stand of the London jeweler Symbolic & Chase. Valuable jewelry was also stolen.

A trade fair visitor filmed the robbery. Four capped men in jackets are seen in the video. One hits a display case with a sledgehammer until the reinforced glass breaks. Another keeps visitors away with an automatic rifle, such as a man who wants to throw a large vase of flowers at the robbers. Yet another man seems to be putting looted jewelry in a plastic bag. After thirty seconds, the robbers take off at a trot. An elderly man sitting on a bench in front of the stand watches the robbery apparently resignedly from five feet away.

The stock market, which opened on Friday, was briefly evacuated. Inside the stock exchange building it remained relatively quiet, outside there was a slight panic. Cees van ‘t Veen from Maastricht, who was walking his dog next to the Mecc: „Suddenly I saw at least fifty people approaching me. “Run, run, men with guns,” they shouted in panic. Then I was home very quickly.”

The police, who arrived within minutes, closed part of the A2. In a press release, the police announced in the afternoon that two suspects had been arrested south of the King Willem-Alexander tunnel in the city. It concerns a 22-year-old and a 26-year-old man, both from Belgium, who were driving a car with a Belgian registration number. Their possible involvement is still under investigation.

Tefaf speaks of an “incident” and does not want to make any further announcements. A spokesman for the fair would “neither confirm nor deny” that in any case a necklace worth 27 million euros was stolen, as one of those present learned from the robbery exhibitor immediately after the robbery.

In the past, valuables have been stolen on Tefaf more often. Including paintings and jewelry. The fair has an extensive security system and emergency plan that is coordinated with the municipality and the police. The stock exchange does not want to make any statements about its contents for security reasons.

The fair, which has been postponed from March to June due to corona, will experience its last day this Thursday.