A Romanian who allegedly stole EUR 5.2 million worth of diamonds and jewelry from a store in France was arrested last Friday by the Romanian police.

The Romanian, whose name is George Ploscaru, is believed to have carried out a movie-like theft at the end of December, in a jewelry shop in Paris. The shop he robbed apparently belongs to Swiss jewelry designer De Grisogono, which is owned by Lebanese-Italian billionaire Fawaz Gruosi, according to judicial sources quoted by Agerpres.

After making an appointment, Ploscaru came to the private showroom of the Swiss jewelry brand in Paris, saying that he was a gemologist interested in examining two rough diamonds and two rings plated with diamonds, as he intends to buy them. The seller, a representative of the Swiss brand, gave him the jewelry in a box. After a so-called examination, Ploscaru gave the seller another box, which looked the same as the box he received, and said that he was not longer interested in buying the items. He then left the showroom with the diamonds and the rings.

The Romanian worked with two Serbian citizens for this robbery. Thus, after the theft, George Ploscaru kept one of the rings and one diamond and gave the rest to the Serbians. He sold the diamond to some citizens from Israel, and then entered Romania with the stolen ring, according to the Romanian prosecutors from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT). He tried to sell the ring to two Belgians and one Israeli, but the transaction didn’t succeed.

Last Friday, DIICOT prosecutors and judicial police officers carried out seven searches in Bucharest. During these actions, they have recovered the stolen ring and arrested George Ploscaru for 24 hours. The next day, Prahova Court ordered a 30-day arrest warrant for the thief.

Moreover, another defendant was placed under judicial control, and six others are investigated for concealment.

The French authorities are also investigating George Ploscaru for other offenses, reports local News.ro. Moreover, the investigations in France also target the Romanian’s girlfriend.

Romanian "Villain Academy" leader sentenced to 24 years in jail

Romanian admits to being part of one of the biggest ATM theft rings in the US

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com