Four of five Coloumbian thieves, belonging to a robbery gang, who had stolen more than $1 million worth of jewelry in Turkey were detained on Saturday, according to reports.
An international robbery gang, after a 16-hour plane ride from Colombia, followed a vehicle carrying diamonds from Istanbul to Anatolia.
On Nov. 3, 2017 the thieves broke the vehicle’s glass and stole a bag of diamonds worth $1 million, as well as $25,000 in cash when the vehicle was at a stopover in Düzce.
After it was determined the gang members had entered Ankara, the Ankara police branch office formed a special team. The department analyzed approximately 300 hours of security footage and surveillance and discovered images of the robbers at twenty different check points.
After tracking the robbers it was determined that the thieves were hiding in Ankara’s Yenimahalle district.
German Bernal Huertas, Ernesto Mesa, Julian Zabata Martinez and a woman named Liliana Gomes Osma were captured during the raid. Gang member Jose Guıllermo Rodriguez Callesjas, who had rented the house the thieves were staying at, was not discovered. The thieves were in contact with human traffickers and were preparing to get out of the country through illegal means. While the thieves’ interrogation continued, the diamonds were seized by the police.
Photographs and information of the international diamond thieves were shared through Interpol’s international database. It was determined that the thieves robbed two more places in the same way in Konya and Istanbul.
