Thief feared to have swallowed diamond
Print Edition
Australian police yesterday said they had arrested and X-rayed a man over the theft of a pink diamond worth more than A$200,000 (US$179,570), with fears he had swallowed it.
The 29-year-old, reported to be British tourist Matthew Osborne, was arrested as he attempted to board an international flight in Melbourne.
“He is expected to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with entering premises and stealing property. The stolen diamond is still outstanding and investigations are continuing,” police said.
The pink diamond, from Rio Tinto’s exclusive Argyle mine and valued at more than A$200,000, was stolen on February 15 from a jewelry store in Cairns, Queensland.
Store owner Keith Bird told police the offender plucked the diamond from his hands after asking for a closer look and fled on a mountain bike.
Using his fingerprints and CCTV images, police tracked the suspect to Melbourne where he was arrested on Thursday trying to board a flight for New Zealand, senior sergeant Greg Giles said.
The man was put through an X-ray machine to determine whether he had ingested the diamond. “The X-rays were inconclusive, so we are making some follow-up inquiries,” Giles said.
Bird said he would love to have the 4.3-millimeter gem returned, with a local buyer expressing interest. He described it as “rare as hen’s teeth.”
“We do have a buyer. A lot of people are buying them because they are going up in value.”
Rio produces more than 90 percent of the world’s pink diamonds and high-quality jewels can fetch in excess of US$1 million per carat. Soaring demand has seen pink diamond prices skyrocket in the past 20 years, especially in Japan and India.
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