E-Paper
Lebanese man swallows 220 diamonds in smuggling bid
South African police on Wednesday said they had caught a Lebanese man who swallowed 220 polished diamonds in an audacious bid to smuggle them from Johannesburg to Dubai.
Updated on: Nov 14, 2012, 16:36:56 IST
Share via
Copy link
South African police on Wednesday said they had caught a Lebanese man who swallowed 220 polished diamonds in an audacious bid to smuggle them from Johannesburg to Dubai.
Officers arrested the 25-year-old at Johannesburg's international airport carrying the gems, worth an estimated $2.3 million. "We nabbed him just before he went through the security checkpoint," said Paul Ramaloko, spokesman of the South Africa elite police unit, the Hawks.
"We had to take him through the X-ray and take them out from his body," he told AFP. South Africa is among the world's top producers of
diamonds.
Get the latest World News, breaking headlines and global updates from the US, UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and other countries. Follow major international events on Hindustan Times.
