Arrests made as French and Spanish police break audacious gang of con artists

Group posed as wealthy buyers using sleight of hand and fake money to steal diamonds and a classic car

Diligent research, a counterfeiting expert, an identical box and nerves as hard as the diamonds they stole helped a gang of audacious jewel thieves and con artists scam their way across Europe, pocketing stones worth almost 20m (17m) and swindling a classic car collector out of 185,ooo.

But their sleight-of-hand skills and bundles of fake banknotes eventually caught the attention of police on both sides of the Pyrenees, and eight people were arrested at the end of December following a year-long joint investigation by Spanish and French police.