Dutch prosecutors name five Serbians wanted in TEFAF jewelry robbery
Police say the suspects cannot be arrested as long as they stay in Serbia, which does not extradite its own residents.
Law and Crime
Dutch authorities on Thursday named five Serbians suspected in the 2022 armed robbery at TEFAF in Maastricht. Four robbers dressed like "Peaky Blinders" characters had smashed display cases with sledgehammers and took about €40 million in jewelry.
The Limburg Public Prosecution Office and the Netherlands Police added the four men and one woman to Europe's Most Wanted List and the Dutch national wanted list, the Nationale Opsporingslijst, the agencies said in a news release. All five have been subject to international wanted alerts since April.
Police identified the suspects as Aleksandar Cenic, 50; Aleksandar Stojiljkovic, 50; Dusko Dimitrijevic, 50; Bratislav Stojanovic, 41; and Ninoslava Jovic, 41.
Their wanted notices say the four men are suspected of carrying out the June 28, 2022, robbery at TEFAF, the European Fine Art Fair held each year in Maastricht. Jovic is suspected of a "facilitating role," according to her notice.
The robbers wore tailored suits and flat caps, threatened bystanders with guns while breaking into the display cases, and got away on electric scooters and another vehicle.
Police say all four men are armed and dangerous and have used fake names, aliases and false or forged identity papers.
Police believe Stojanovic has "TARA" tattooed inside his left forearm and a rose inside his right, his notice says. Jovic has "Selena" tattooed on the side of her right forearm and what police believe is "Faith" on her left.
The notices list Cenic and Stojiljkovic as last seen in Belgrade and the other three in Niš. All five are most likely still in those areas.
"We have gained insight into names, aliases, images and the places where the suspects may be," the lead investigator on the case said in the release.
"As long as they stay in Serbia, however, there are no options to make an arrest. Serbia does not extradite its own residents. We therefore hope that we can have them arrested in another country," the investigator said.
Investigators have worked with several countries, supported by Europol and Eurojust, but have not been able to detain any of the five. Police said that is why they are now making the suspects' identities public.
The public prosecutor leading the case said in the release that "especially because of that international cooperation, which often runs according to protocols and procedures, everything took a long time."
Officials said three diamonds from the haul have been recovered. Police seized two earlier; one is now in Hong Kong and the other in Israel. A third surfaced in Botswana early this year.
The investigation also found that a robbery was attempted at the Maastricht fair in March 2020, and police have linked at least one of the five suspects to that attempt, the release said.
That link is based on Sky ECC data the investigative team recently obtained through Europol. Sky ECC is an encrypted messaging service used mainly by criminals. Investigators accessed millions of messages on the platform in 2021, and police took it offline that March.
Officials did not name the exhibitor whose jewelry was taken.
The prosecutor said investigators hope the listings will bring in tips about the suspects' travel. The Limburg Public Prosecution Office is offering a €20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any of the perpetrators.
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