Armed robbers steal jewels at 'The European Fine Art Fair'
Representative image
Suspected armed robbers raided one of Europe's biggest art fairs in the Dutch city of Maastricht in broad daylight on Tuesday, police said, with a video showing men smashing a display case with a sledgehammer, as reported by AFP.
Police said they pulled over a car and arrested two Belgians in their twenties after the four smartly dressed thieves held up the TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) in the southern city of Maastricht.
Dramatic social media images showed the robbers threatening people with what appeared to be handguns before running off with an undisclosed amount of what police called "loot".
Visitor Jos Stassen told Dutch public broadcaster NOS he had gone to the exhibition on Tuesday to look at the art in peace.
"I suddenly heard a lot of noise and I turned around and suddenly saw those men," he said.
"One started beating and the others kept people away, scared everyone. I also saw a weapon.
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"It went very fast and it lasted a very short time but I'm still shaking a little bit."
The venue was evacuated but visitors were eventually let back into the fair, which draws tens of thousands of people over several days. No one was hurt, police said.
"A stall was raided, they fled and we started the search," Wim Coenen, a spokesman for Limburg province police, told AFP. "There were four suspects, two were arrested."
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Dutch media said the display case contained diamond jewellery and other items from London jeweller Symbolic and Chase. There was no comment from the firm.
Police confirmed in a statement that "jewellery was stolen. Additional details about the loot are not being provided at this time."
The TEFAF fair is one of the biggest in Europe and features hundreds of works, including a 17th-century drawing by a Dutch Old Master on sale for one million euros.
(with inputs from agencies)
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