Five TEFAF jewellery theft suspects added to Europe’s most-wanted list

Five people suspected of involvement in the theft of valuable jewellery at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht have been added to Europe’s most-wanted fugitives list, Dutch police say. Investigators believe the four men and one woman may be in Serbia, which does not extradite its own citizens, and hope the alert will lead to arrests if they travel abroad.

The suspects are Aleksandar Cenic, 50, Aleksandar Stojiljkovic, 50, Dusko Dimitrijevic, 50, Bratislav Stojanovic, 41, and Ninoslava Jovic, 41. They have also been placed on the Netherlands’ national wanted list.

Jewellery was stolen from the Maastricht fair on 28 June 2022. Investigators have since traced three of the stolen diamonds: one was found in Botswana earlier this year, while others surfaced in Hong Kong and Israel.

Police also say at least one of the five suspects can be linked to an attempted robbery at the same fair in March 2020. The investigation drew on messages from the encrypted communications service Sky ECC, which law-enforcement agencies accessed in 2021.

The Public Prosecution Service is offering a €20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one or more suspects. Prosecutors said international co-operation contributed to the length of the investigation and expressed hope that the European alert would generate useful tips.