'Diamond
swallower' was a ruse: Sri Lanka police
COLOMBO
(AFP) - A Chinese man accused of swallowing a diamond worth $13,600 at a gem
show in Sri Lanka actually ingested a fake stone in an elaborate bluff to allow
the real thief to escape, police said Tuesday.
Detectives
discovered the ruse after waiting until the man, 32, passed the fake stone that
he had swallowed at the Facets Sri Lanka annual jewellery exhibition in Colombo
last week.
"The
man with the real stone vanished while all the attention was on the man who was
seen swallowing a stone that turned out to be fake," police spokesman Ajith
Rohana told AFP.
"Investigations
are now underway to track down the accomplice and recover the stolen diamond. We
think both of them were involved in a racket."
Police
said the man appeared to swallow a tiny 1.5-carat diamond -- creating a
distraction as the stall owner shouted to nearby police who arrested him.
The
accused man was taken to Colombo National Hospital where X-rays showed a stone
lodged in his stomach before a dose of laxatives brought it out on
Saturday.
Police
said the man had been constantly monitored by armed guards to ensure the stone
was not lost.
Suresh
de Silva, director of the Belgrade International gem store, told AFP last week
how the two Chinese men approached his stall and asked to examine some diamonds
closely.
De
Silva then saw one man put something in his mouth.
"When
I shouted, one ran away and we managed to catch the man who swallowed the
stone," de Silva said.
Photographs
showed the captured man, dressed in a black shirt and jeans with his head bowed,
being escorted from the exhibition centre by uniformed policemen.
Sri Lanka
does not mine diamonds but it has a large gem and jewellery industry and is
famed for its blue sapphires.
'Diamond
swallower' was a ruse: Sri Lanka police
"Investigations
are now underway to track down the accomplice and recover the stolen diamond. We
think both of them were involved in a racket."
COLOMBO
(AFP) - A Chinese man accused of swallowing a diamond worth $13,600 at a gem
show in Sri Lanka actually ingested a fake stone in an elaborate bluff to allow
the real thief to escape, police said Tuesday.
Detectives
discovered the ruse after waiting until the man, 32, passed the fake stone that
he had swallowed at the Facets Sri Lanka annual jewellery exhibition in Colombo
last week.
"The
man with the real stone vanished while all the attention was on the man who was
seen swallowing a stone that turned out to be fake," police spokesman Ajith
Rohana told AFP.
"Investigations
are now underway to track down the accomplice and recover the stolen diamond. We
think both of them were involved in a racket."
Police
said the man appeared to swallow a tiny 1.5-carat diamond -- creating a
distraction as the stall owner shouted to nearby police who arrested him.
The
accused man was taken to Colombo National Hospital where X-rays showed a stone
lodged in his stomach before a dose of laxatives brought it out on
Saturday.
Police
said the man had been constantly monitored by armed guards to ensure the stone
was not lost.
Suresh
de Silva, director of the Belgrade International gem store, told AFP last week
how the two Chinese men approached his stall and asked to examine some diamonds
closely.
De
Silva then saw one man put something in his mouth.
"When
I shouted, one ran away and we managed to catch the man who swallowed the
stone," de Silva said.
Photographs
showed the captured man, dressed in a black shirt and jeans with his head bowed,
being escorted from the exhibition centre by uniformed policemen.
Sri Lanka
does not mine diamonds but it has a large gem and jewellery industry and is
famed for its blue sapphires.