Thai police get to bottom of US$278,000 diamond theft three days after Chinese woman swallowed it
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 13 September, 2015, 7:37pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 13 September, 2015, 8:02pm
Associated Press and Agencies
The suspects are caught on camera asking to see the diamond before they allegedly replaced it with a fake. Photo: SCMP Pictures/Bangkok Post
A police investigation in Thailand has literally got to the bottom of the theft of a 10 million baht (US$278,000) diamond last week - and officers have collected rock hard evidence.
Police Colonel Mana Tienmaungpak said that a doctor wielding a colonosope and the medical equivalent of pliers pulled the six-carat gemstone from the large intestine of the Chinese woman alleged to have stolen it, then swallowed it, after nature and laxatives failed to get it out.
The woman, 39-year-old Jiang Xulian, and her male partner, Hae Ying, 34, were arrested on Thursday night at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on their way out of Thailand.
They were held after surveillance video at a Bangkok jewellery fair allegedly showed the duo switching a fake stone for the real one after asking to inspect it, according to the Bangkok Post.
They denied involvement, but X-rays at Police General Hospital in Bangkok, showed a diamond-like object in the woman’s intestine. The Post said the woman confessed following the X-ray.
Police Col Mana Tienmaungpak, the chief investigator for the case, said the woman agreed to Sunday’s delicate operation after being told that the gemstone risked injuring her.
Officers had given her food, drink and laxatives, but the diamond failed to appear after three days.
The diamond’s owner identified the stone after it was removed.
Police said the suspects had no previous criminal records and believe more people could be involved.
Hiding gems in the digestive system is a rare but not unknown ploy. The method is more commonly used by drug smugglers, who swallow condoms filled with cocaine or other illicit substances to get them past customs checks.
In 2012, police in South Africa arrested a 25-year-old man who they said swallowed 220 polished diamonds in an attempt to smuggle them out of the country.
The diamonds were estimated to be worth about US$2.3 million, and were discovered by a body scan as the man was waiting to go through security at the international airport near Johannesburg prior to taking a flight to Dubai.
