Netflix has added Stolen: Heist of the Century, an intriguing-sounding documentary about arguably the world's most audacious diamond robbery, which seems like something out of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible movies.
In February 2003, a gang of thieves broke into the seemingly impenetrable Antwerp World Diamond Centre and snatched gems estimated to be worth between $100 million and $500 million. The police were baffled by how the villains got into the vault, which had every protection imaginable, including thermal-motion sensors, a magnetic field, and a lock with millions of possible combinations. The crooks didn't set off any alarms, and their crime wasn't discovered until the following day.
And, amazingly, most of the diamonds have still never been found!
The methods by which the thieves pulled off the breathtaking heist and the current whereabouts of the diamonds are still the subject of great debate.
Netflix teases: “An ingenious gang of master jewel thieves from Italy known as The School of Turin were behind the audacious heist — now, after more than 20 years, the world will finally learn how they pulled it off."
In the trailer (above), someone involved with the case is heard saying: "No one could imagine that the diamond district could be cracked. This isn't the story of a crime. It's more like the script of a movie.
"How they did it with no force, no violence, we had no idea."
The makers have interviewed the Antwerp detectives who cracked the case and also the alleged criminal mastermind behind it. Netflix says it will give a "blow-by-blow account of what really happened”.
It’s from the producers of The Tinder Swindler and American Nightmare, so it suggests it will be a great production.
We know the crime required a lot of planning and a string of ingenious methods to evade the huge security around the diamonds. What happened afterwards is just as interesting as the heist, as the criminals went about trying to profit from their crime while the police played catch-up and started to gather evidence.
Netflix will be hoping it matches the huge success of the Guy Ritchie true crime documentary The Diamond Heist, which became a global smash on the streaming service earlier this year.
The three-part documentary, which easily makes our best shows on Netflix guide, is about the attempted theft of £350 million worth of diamonds, including the famous Millennium Star, from London's Millennium Dome back in 2000.
Stolen: Heist of the Century is on Netflix now.
