"Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History" offers the reader a detailed, step-by-step chronicle of the real-life, "Ocean's Eleven" style robbery of the Antwerp diamond trading center.

In February 2003, a group of jewelry thieves succeeded in doing the impossible – breaking into the impregnable subterranean vault of the Antwerp Diamond Center. Located in the heart of Belgium’s Diamond District, the building was one of the most secure facilities in the world, with two police stations, armed patrols, extensive video surveillance and vehicle barriers protecting it.
The thieves got away with some 100,000 carats of rough and polished diamonds, 33 pounds of pure gold; millions in cash in various currencies as well of millions worth of securities, and rare coins and jewelry – worth roughly amounting to $500 million in total.

The book, co-written by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell, offers detailed reconstruction of the multi-million dollar heist, covering everything from its seemingly foolproof plan to its elegant execution and the careless mistakes that became the robbers' undoing.

Selby and Campbell focus on Leonardo Notarbartolo, a part-time jewellery designer and  con-man, who rented an office in Antwerp's Diamond Center and spent two years painstakingly gathering intelligence that the group's specialists of the security systems' later used to devise the robbery.

The genius simplicity of the plan, however, cannot overcome the simplest of dumb mistakes: some of the gang members dumped garbage in a wooded area near the Antwerp airport, ignoring the fact that it was a wildlife reserve.

A routine rangers' patrol found the bags and their contents eventually helped police identify a number of the thieves, including Notarbartolo.

Notarbartolo and three of his accomplices were eventually arrested, tried and jailed, but other members of the gang – and the majority of the loot – were never found.

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Maybe it's time to keep our diamonds under the floorboards – an Indian diamond merchant and his family, who were staying in Belgium, were held hostage by robbers for 18 hours and freed them only after taking millions of dollars worth of gemstones. 

The heist took place Saturday in Antwerp, the world's biggest diamond center, which is considered a crime-free zone. Just two weeks ago I listed the top five most notorious diamond robberies in the world. Luckily, I don't have to change it due to this robbery.

According to the Antwerp police, five or six armed men walked into the villa of Pankaj Maldar, who head Carp Impex NV diamond firm and took his wife and two children hostage.

The gang, who apparently knew the exact nature of the diamond stocked by Maldar's firm, called up Maldar at his office and demanded the diamonds in return for his family's safe release. Maldar, left with no choice, did as he was ordered. 

Vasant Mehta, chairman of the Gems and Jewelry Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), said the industry would take up the issue with Belgian Crown Prince Philippe during his visit to India beginning March 25.

"Antwerp is perhaps the safest place in the world. This robbery has come as a very big surprise," he added.

A spokesman for Ludo Van Campenhout, who is in charge of Antwerp's diamond quarter, criticized the attack but said security measures in the area were adequate: "attacks on diamond merchants are virtually non-existent in Antwerp. If attacks happen, they are at people's homes," he said.

Antwerp robbery aside, European swindlers seem to have had a lucrative weekend: some €800,000 was stolen from a poker tournament held in Berlin's Grand Hyatt Hotel, at the Potsdamerplatz business square.

The heist, which Der Tagesspiegel magazine already dubbed one of the most spectacular robberies of the last few years, was perpetrated by several masked men during a 10-mimute interval between the hotel security guards' shifts. They fled the scene using a black Mercedes which was waiting for them outside.

The robbers probably had their eye of the $1 million dollar prize waiting for the winner of the poker tournament, but that was kept in the hotel safe, leaving them only the "small change" of the floor. 

5. KaDeWe, Berlin.

In the early morning hours of January 27, 2009 three masked men broke into Germany's luxury department store Kaufhaus Des Westens, also known as KaDeWe. The store's CCTV footage showed exactly how they climbed into the grand main hall, broke open cabinets and display cases and stripped the store of €5 million worth of jewelry and watches.

At first, the police thought that traces of DNA found on a glove left at the scene would make nabbing the o criminals responsible for one of the most spectacular jewelry heists in Germany's history, easy. Imagine their surprise when the DNA evidence led to identical twins – which have innately  near-identical DNA – rendering the usually full-proof evidence useless. Is that the perfect crime or what?

4. Graff, London.

In the summer of 2009, two snazzily-dressed  thieves walked into a London Bond Street jewelry store, waved handguns at the shop's workers and stepped out with $65 million worth of gems in one of Britain's biggest jewelry heists.

It was the third time a Graff store in London was targeted in a high-profile raid in the past six years. The two's loot included dozens of high-end rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches worth $65 million.

3. Antwerp Diamond Center.

In wintery weekend on February 2003,  123 safety deposit boxes tucked away in the Antwerp Diamond Center's main vault were completely emptied. Belgian authorities didn't discover the theft until Monday, realizing the robbers got away with an estimated  $60 million worth of gems. While the ring behind what has been called the greatest jewelry heist in the world history, was eventually jailed, the whereabouts of the diamonds remains unknown. 

2. Harry Winstron, Paris.

In December of 2008, four armed men – three of whom were  dressed women’s clothing – marched into Harry Winstron's Paris, store shortly before closing time, and took the high-end store for $108 million worth of jewels.

Robbing the store wasn't enough for the foursome, who also robbed the storage room, causing Winston's stock to dip 9%.  The same store was robbed just one year prior, when thieves netted €10 million worth of jewels. Which brings us to the obvious question: wouldn't hiring some armed guards be cheaper than getting robbed every year? 

1. Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam.

February 25, 2005 saw $118 million worth of diamonds and gems stolen at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Many of the stones were uncut, which made them much harder to value and trace. Unlike the other heists on the list, which probably involve some planning, the Schiphol robbery was executed in a “smash and grab” fashion.

It was later discovered that about two weeks prior to the robbery, four men stole a KLM cargo truck and uniforms in order to divert suspicion and allow them to move around the secure areas of the airport freely.

On the day of the robbery, the thieves drove right up to a KLM truck that was carrying a large haul of uncut diamonds, intended for delivery to Antwerp, and held up the drivers at gun-point,and in front of numerous witnesses, before simply getting in the truck and driving away. It was the second time in six months that the airport terminal was breached.