These Expensive Jewelry Heists Will Make You Lose All Hope In Security Systems

Sometimes, the jewelry heists you see happen in the movies look too good to be true. For example, who’s really going to go the extra distance to obtain a drill that can get through the most robust steel? Then, all of a sudden the news is discussing how millions of dollars worth of jewels got robbed. Now the plot thickens as they talk about how the robbers pulled it off. It begins to sound a lot like Oceans Eleven, and there you are in disbelief. Well, believe it or not, here are the most expensive and elaborate jewel heists ever. From banks to celebrities, no one is safe.

2003 Antwerp Diamond Center – $118M

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A plan that was four years in the making came to fruition in 2003. With Antwerp being one of the diamond capitals in the world, extensive planning needed to happen. The thieves rented office space from across the Diamond center so they could analyze the alarm system to learn how to bypass it.

They also somehow obtained keys to the vaults that the diamonds were in and made copies. The day of the heist, they inserted fake tapes into the surveillance system. All signs pointed to an inside job, and it was. Due to one of the thieves leaving behind a half-eaten sandwich, most of them ended up going to jail.