A Tale of Two Gem Raids

The Brink's jewelry heist that netted up to $100m, and the offer of a $7m reward for the return of Tamara Ecclestone's stolen gems - it's been a busy time for news of high-value crime.
Thieves broke into an armored van near Los Angeles earlier this month as it transported jewelry, gems and watches between two trade shows. Insurers put the total loss at $10m but the victims, many described as mom and pop jewelers, say the true value could be as much as 10 times that figure.
Meanwhile in London, Tamara Ecclestone, daughter of the Formula One racing billionaire Bernie, this week said she was taking a page out of Mel Gibson's book, from the movie Ransom, by publicly offering a huge reward for the return of her jewelry and watches stolen in a 2019 raid.
The 15 hard-working jewelers who lost everything in the Brink's raid are in dire straits and must wish they could offer such a bounty. The hard-working socialite/heiress/model/TV personality Ecclestone - with an estimated net worth of $300m - won't be too worried about forfeiting $7.2m.
Criminals respect nobody's circumstances and happily steal from the super-rich and the relatively poor.  Both cases highlight their ruthless determination.
The Brink's heist bears the hallmarks of a meticulously planned operation. Either that or they got very, very lucky.  The armed guards pulled into a truck stop for 27 minutes at 2am on 11 July as they transported exhibitors' goods from one International Gem and Jewelry Show (IGJS) venue in San Mateo, California, to another 370 miles away, in Pasadena, also California.
By the time they returned the culprits had managed to bypass the locking mechanism, unload the crates filled with valuables, and disappear into the night.
"We are looking at more than $100 million in documented losses," Arnold Duke, IGJS president, told the Los Angeles Times.
"This was an absolutely huge crime. One of the largest jewelry heists ever. We are talking gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and loads of luxury watches."
It's not clear if the perpetrators had been following the vehicle (the route was kept secret) or if they knew of its contents (it was a standard Brink's van). But the victims will never stop counting the cost.
"These are small businesses with their entire wealth vested in that truck. It has destroyed them financially and it affected their health in some cases," said Duke.
Tamara Ecclestone may be missing her treasured trinkets, some of them of great sentimental value. But the raid on her $70m mansion, in Kensington, London, has not left her destitute, even though many items were not insured.
Ecclestone's husband, Jay Rutland, told the BBC: "All of the jewellery and the watches that were stolen were all excluded in the insurance policy." He said the thieves forced their way in and spent over an hour inside their home, ransacking every single room and stealing around 450 items.
Three Italian nationals - Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24, Alessandro Maltese, 45, and Alessandro Donati, 44, - were jailed last November for conspiracy to burgle but the suspected ringleader Daniel Vukovic, a Croatian national with numerous aliases, remains at large, believed to be in Serbia.
The same gang carried out two other raids in London at around the same time, against a high-profile footballer and football club owner, and are suspected of similar attacks across Europe.
Ecclestone posted her online reward earlier this week after the BBC aired a documentary Who Stole Tamara Ecclestone's Diamonds?
In an Instagram post she said she had "waited long enough to get back her stolen possessions by conventional means". She'd been inspired by the movie Ransom, in which a millionaire uses a similar technique to track down the kidnappers who abducted his son.

Have a fabulous weekend.