Thieves switch seeds for diamonds to make off with £110,000 haul

THIEVES in Limassol stole diamonds worth approximately £110,000 from a jewellery shop, right in front of the owner’s eyes, police said yesterday.

The owner reported that the diamonds were stolen by two men posing as customers, who had asked him to order the diamonds for them from abroad, then snatched them when they arrived.

Two foreign men had visited the jewellery shop on October 15 and told the owner that they were businessmen specialising in jewellery dealing. One of the men asked the owner to import diamonds on his behalf. The three men met many times and had agreed on the type of diamonds they wanted, as well as on price. The shop owner accepted to order 375 carat-worth of diamonds for the suspect.

The diamonds arrived on Wednesday from abroad, and on the same day the two men visited the shop to view and weigh the valuable rocks. After reviewing the diamonds, the two men packed them in a small parcel they had brought with them, which they sealed and gave to the owner. They asked the owner to keep it for them, until they deposited the payment in his bank account the following day.

On the following day, the suspects neither contacted the owner, nor did they deposit any money in his account. The man got suspicious and tried contacting them, but with no success. He then opened the parcel, to discover that it had been filled with corn seeds and not diamonds.

The jewellery shop owner told police he suspected that the parcel had been switched on Wednesday when the two men visited his shop to see the diamonds. While one of the men was packing the diamonds, the other one was distracting the owner so that he wouldn’t notice his partner had switched the parcel with an identical one containing seeds.
Following the owner’s complaint, police have made extensive efforts to trace the two thieves, searching hotels in Limassol, as well as airports in Larnaca and Paphos.

Police last night issued an artist’s impression of the two suspects, whose real names they do not know.

One man is described as aged about 55, 1.65-1.70 metres tall and of slight build; he has a pale face, short grey hair, blue eyes and big ears.

The second man is believed to be about 45, 1.8 metres tall, of normal build with dark complexion and short dark curly hair.

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