Saturday, 23 November 2024

Woman Steals and Swallows 6-Carat Diamond, Doctors get it back through surgery

 

Thai authorities have surgically removed a stolen 6-carat diamond, which became lodged in a woman’s intestine after she tried to smuggle the gem by swallowing it.

Jiang Xulian, 39, from China, confessed to stealing the gemstone, worth 10 million baht or about $280,000 on Friday after it showed up on an X-ray scan, police said.

Jiang and her companion, a Chinese man, were detained at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport last Thursday while trying to leave the country, said Maj. Gen. Sanit Mahathavorn, the police official overseeing the investigation.

An exhibitor at the 56th Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair had reported the diamond missing. The pair is believed to have switched the stone with a fake diamond after asking to inspect it.

After she was taken into custody, Jiang refused to eat any food and only drank water, police said.

She was given laxatives but three days later had still failed to pass the diamond. By this time, the stone had moved from her stomach to her large intestine.

Jiang Xulian, 39, from China, has been arrested over its theft. She confessed to stealing the gem when it was detected on by an x-ray. Jiang was first given laxatives to pass the gem but refused to eat anything and only drank water.

Doctors then used a coloscope to extract the gem successfully on Sunday afternoon.

Jiang is being detained on a charge of theft and could face a three year jail sentence and a fine.

 

Diamond thieves who resort to swallowing precious stones are not unheard of.

The 6-carat diamond is worth about $280,000, police said. It was allegedly switched for a fake version by a couple who attended the gem fair in Bangkok.

In 2012, South African police arrested a man trying to leave the country who had swallowed 220 polished diamonds. The diamonds, worth an estimated $2.3 million, were discovered by an airport security body scanner.


News Letter

Subscribe our Email News Letter to get Instant Update at anytime

About Oases News

OASES News is a News Agency with the central idea of diseminating credible, evidence-based, impeccable news and activities without stripping all technicalities involved in news reporting.