Diamonds worth HK$20m stolen in jewellery trade show raid in Wan Chai

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Diamonds worth HK$20m stolen in jewellery trade show raid in Wan Chai

PUBLISHED : Monday, 09 March, 2015, 12:54am
UPDATED : Monday, 09 March, 2015, 12:54am

Danny Mok and Ernest Kao

Mainland women are arrested on suspicion of stealing HK$1.5 million worth of diamonds at the city's biggest international jewellery show at the AsiaWorld-Expo last Monday. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Two diamonds worth a total of about HK$20 million were snatched yesterday on the final day of the International Jewellery Show in Wan Chai.

The alarm was raised by a 57-year-old expatriate employee at the Convention and Exhibition Centre, who noticed a display cabinet had been left unlocked. The diamonds were 47 and 15 carats.

Police were called at about 5.40pm, 10 minutes after the show closed, but officers made no arrests. The case is being handled by Wan Chai investigators.

The loss was the biggest suffered at two jewellery shows being held in the city this month.

A spokesman for the Trade Development Council, which organised the event, declined to comment, saying it was now a police matter.

The latest theft comes after an earlier raid last Monday, just an hour after the opening of the International Diamond, Gem and Pearl Show, also organised by the Trade Development Council, at the AsiaWorld-Expo.

Mainland thieves eluded heavy security and stole two three-carat diamonds worth a total of about HK$1.5 million by swapping the gems with fakes at the show.

Six female suspects from the mainland were arrested on the same day, but only one of the two diamonds was recovered. The other gem was valued at about HK$500,000. The women, aged between 25 and 35, were probably part of a gang which had targeted the show, police said.

Described as the "world's largest jewellery marketplace", more than 4,300 exhibitors took part in the two events. Some 76,000 buyers from 140 countries visited the shows, according to the Trade Development Council.

On the first day of the International Diamond, Gem and Pearl Show last year, 370 gems worth more than US$170,000 were snatched in two cases.