The crime of the century in Brussels: when the Moroccan trail alarmed the investigators

The scenario seems straight out of a movie, but the crime remains unpunished. On February 18, 2013, a commando disguised as police officers seized a shipment of diamonds and gold on the Brussels tarmac in just four minutes, without firing a single shot. The audacity is total, but it is the battle of figures that will quickly raise questions. While the Antwerp diamond dealers and the insurers estimate the damage at around 38 million euros, another estimate comes to sow doubt: that of the Moroccan police. With sources at the heart of major crime, the Kingdom’s intelligence services at the time mentioned a colossal loot, exceeding 300 million euros, suggesting that the official cargo did not tell the whole story.

This "Moroccan trail" was not limited to a war of figures. The security cooperation between Brussels and Rabat has allowed investigators to focus on a key suspect: Marc Bertoldi. This French national, based in Morocco where he was living large, was identified thanks to information provided by the Moroccan authorities, reports RTL TVI. It is this lead that has allowed the only real breakthrough in the case, leading to the discovery of a portion of the precious stones hidden in Switzerland. Bertoldi, arrested during a trip to France, admitted to having acted as an intermediary to sell the goods, but has always denied being one of the robbers present on the tarmac.

Despite these promising elements and the involvement of the Moroccan services, the Belgian justice system has never been able to catch the perpetrators of the theft. Due to the lack of irrefutable physical evidence, the trials of 2018 and 2023 resulted in general acquittals for the alleged robbers. Only Bertoldi was convicted for receiving stolen goods. Today, the diamonds, probably recut, are untraceable, and the secret of this heist remains intact, leaving unanswered questions about what really passed between Belgium and Morocco that evening.