Antwerp heist

London, March 8: The wife and teenage children of a wealthy Indian diamond dealer in Antwerp in Belgium were held hostage by, at least, three armed gunmen while he was given an hour to go back to his office and return with his entire stock.

A source told The Telegraph that the gunmen, who were apparently wearing uniforms to make them look like security guards or even police, knocked on the front door of the villa of Pankaj Maldar in the exclusive suburb of Wilrijk in Antwerp.

The gunmen then rushed in, held the family hostage and waited for Maldar, a senior partner at Karp Impex NV, a large diamond company.

When he arrived, the shocked dealer was given an option: “ ‘Come back with the diamonds within an hour or we will blow up your family with bombs,’ ” the source said.

“People are very afraid,” he added, commenting on the mood of Indian diamond dealers in Belgium.

There is confusion about the gunmen’s ethnic origins. One report said they were of Turkish origin; another said “they seemed to speak Italian”. The number of gunmen was also put at five in one account.

The Indian origin population in Belgium numbers about 14,000, of whom 5,000, belonging to 600 families, are in the diamond trade. Some years ago, Jewish traders made up 80 per cent of the business, with Indians accounting for 20 per cent. It is understood those proportions have now reversed.

As to the value of the haul, the source was unsure: “Some say Dollar10m, some say Dollar5m, some say Dollar7m.”

However, it does seem the gang had reliable knowledge of what was in Maldar’s office safe.

Although the incident was played out over 20 hours on Friday, according to a police spokesman, the authorities were not informed until Saturday. The audacious heist has now developed into one of the biggest police inquiries in Belgium for some years.

Vasant Mehta, chairman of the Gems and Jewellery 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.

“It is easily one of the biggest diamond robberies in Belgium,” he said.

Diamonds are crucial to Belgium’s economy and to the gems trade in Surat and Mumbai, with which the Indian traders, mostly of Gujarati origin, have close links.

The diamond trading quarter of Antwerp is well protected but this is not always the case with the homes of the traders, though some do tend to employ private guards.

It is understood that senior members of the Indian community in Antwerp want the Indian embassy in Brussels to take up the question of their security with the Belgian government.

“We are also seeking meetings with the Justice Minister and the police commissioner,” said a spokesman for one of the representative organisations.

Sunil Prasad, president of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) Belgium and also secretary general, Europe India Chamber of Commerce (EICC), underlined the importance of diamonds: “They account for 8 per cent of Belgium’s GDP.”

The older generation of Gujaratis tend to be conservative in their lifestyle but the younger ones less so. “It is an affluent community,” it was pointed out.

Weddings are an occasion when the diamond traders do splash out. Locals still recall the lavish one held in autumn 2002 when the town of Mechelen in Belgium was turned into a Bollywood set for double wedding of Vishal and Priya, son and daughter of Vijay Shah, one of the biggest diamond dealers in Antwerp.

An entire exhibition building was transformed into a Rajasthani palace — 1,000 feet long, over 300 feet wide and 60 feet tall by Bollywood designer Nitin Desai.

Guests, including the diamond merchant and film financier Bharat Shah from Mumbai, were entertained by a galaxy of film stars, among them Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta.

Wearing a white sari with a red border, Aishwarya did a turn from Devdas. For one act, the red carpet was cleared of guests — anywhere between 5,000 and 7,000 — so that “action hero” Akshay Kumar could roar along an aisle and up a slope on to the stage on a motorcycle.

Two well-known designers, Rohit Baal and Manish Malhotra, made the clothes — the former for the men, the latter for the women.

“The world of diamonds still has a certain glamour,” said a community leader today. “But diamonds are also a criminal’s best friend.”