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The Namibian police (Nampol) are keeping a lid on what might be one of the most daring diamond heists in the country’s history—a crime that left two men dead, two others behind bars, and 466 parcels of diamonds worth a staggering R1.3 billion gone without a trace.
Since the robbery at state-owned Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) in Windhoek on 18 January, Nampol has dodged the media’s questions, fueling a storm of speculation.
How many diamonds were really stolen? How many robbers were there? And the biggest question of all—did suspect Max Endjala take his own life, or did someone else pull the trigger?
But if anyone expected answers, they were left hanging. On the day of a promised press conference, Nampol and Namdia abruptly pulled the plug, saying only that it would be rescheduled “at a date to be communicated.” More than a month later, that date still hasn’t come and the silence is deafening.
Here’s what’s known, per News24: According to an initial police report, Namdia’s head of security, 57-year-old Francis Eiseb, was found dead in a storeroom—his hands and legs bound, a shopping bag covering his face, and a gunshot wound to the head.
Nearby lay 44-year-old Max Endjala, a senior auditor at Trusco and one of the suspected robbers. Police claim he died by suicide. But whispers of a different story have been circulating ever since.
Endjala, it turns out, had family ties to Namdia employee and former police officer Joel Angula—his cousin, now accused of masterminding the entire heist. Another suspect, 45-year-old ex-soldier Sam Shololo, was shot and wounded during a standoff with police before being arrested. Later that same day, Angula was taken into custody at his home, allegedly caught with stolen diamonds.
Both men have appeared in court, facing charges of murder, armed robbery, possession of uncut diamonds, and attempted murder. Their case is set to resume on 23 May as investigators work to unravel the full extent of the crime.
The diamonds in question had been delivered to Namdia’s premises about a week before the robbery and were intended for sale to international buyers within days. But before that could happen, armed robbers stormed the building, tied up staff, and slashed them with knives before making off with an undisclosed number of stones. Police recovered four guns and several knives at the scene—but the diamonds were long gone.
And that’s where the story takes an even darker turn. Amid the chaos that followed the robbery, whispers suggest that not all the missing diamonds vanished with the robbers. According to sources, police officers, security guards, Namdia employees, government officials, paramedics, and even curious onlookers who gathered at the scene may have helped themselves to the scattered gems.
“The whole scene was chaotic, and naturally, some people picked up diamonds because even when the situation returned to normal and the police secured the scene, some diamonds were still scattered on the ground,” a senior police officer reportedly told News24.
But perhaps the most shocking revelation is that this heist didn’t catch everyone off guard. According to Nampol’s deputy inspector-general for operations, Elias Mutota, police had warned Namdia as far back as last year to tighten its security. The advice, it seems, fell on deaf ears.
Now, the fallout is in full swing. Under pressure from politicians and senior government officials, Namdia’s board has suspended CEO Alisa Amupolo, COO Uahoroka Kauta, and security manager Paulinus Sheyapo. Board chairperson Justus Hausiku announced the suspensions last week, saying an interim CEO had been appointed to steady the ship while a full internal investigation was underway. The goal is to piece together the sequence of events that led to the heist—and to make sure it never happens again.
Meanwhile, Nampol has quietly scaled down the number of investigators on the case, reportedly to prevent leaks to the press. But they’ve also brought in some of their top guns: Commissioner Barry de Klerk, head of the police’s protected resources division, and Commissioner Nelius Becker, head of the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute—both veterans of Namibia’s most high-profile cases.
De Klerk is leading a task force dedicated to tracking down the missing diamonds, while Becker and his team are providing forensic support to untangle the evidence.
Yet despite the high-stakes investigation, critical questions remain unanswered: Who else was involved? How far have the diamonds travelled? And was Endjala’s death really a suicide—or the result of a double-cross gone wrong?
For now, the truth remains buried—along with a fortune in diamonds that may never be found.
[Source: News24]
