Diamond switcheroo: €175,000 rock stolen from Amsterdam shop

Two men alleged to have stolen a 175,000-euro Gassan diamond earlier this month in Amsterdam are shown in surveillance footage released by the police Thursday.

In what the police have called “a refined switcheroo,” a duo posing as prospective buyers took a three-carat diamond and left in its place a zirconia stone. The incident occurred on January 11 at Gassan Diamond’s store near Dam Square. “The moment that [the two men] left, [the staff] were looking at the diamonds and they saw the diamond was changed,” Gassan Diamonds owner Benno Leeser told NL Times. He believes that one of the men hid the diamond in his clothes while the other distracted the single employee on attendance. “She was busy with, in her opinion, making a sell,” Benno said of the staff member, “and she was concentrating too much on the man with whom she had the discussion.”

When asked by NL Times whether there had been any developments in the investigation, Leeser answered resolutely: “Nothing.” A staff member has since been suspended from work, but Benno was unwilling to comment further on the matter. The suspects shown in the surveillance footage are two slightly built men who appear to be Asian. Police have set up a tip line. The missing jewel is a Gassan 121, named for its many facets, more than double those of a standard round brilliant diamond. Gassan Diamonds was founded in 1945 by Leeser’s grandfather, Samuel Gassan.