Mumbai: Two Chinese nationals were arrested at the international airport for allegedly stealing a 5.4-carat diamond worth ₹34 lakh from an exhibition in Goregaon. The duo was nabbed when they were about to board a flight out of the country early on Tuesday. The diamond has been recovered, police said.
According to officers at Vanrai police station, where the case was registered, the exhibition was held at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre in the NESCO complex, Goregaon (East) on Monday. Around 3 p.m., a representative of a diamond stall called the police control room to report the theft of the diamond, which had been replaced by a fake.
Additional CP (North) Rajesh Pradhan said, “We sent a team to the spot and an examination of the CCTV footage of the stall showed two Chinese nationals talking to the representatives for around two hours. Their movements were suspicious, and we set about trying to find out more about these suspects.”
Police contacted the Central Industrial Security Force at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office and the Mumbai Police Special Branch II, which keeps track of foreign nationals in the city. Information received from them indicated that two Chinese nationals, identified as Chiang Chang Kving and Dang Xiaoba, had booked seats on an Air India flight to Osaka, Japan, whose departure time was 7.45 p.m. on Monday.
Mr. Pradhan said, “The duo had already cleared immigration by the time our team reached the airport. They were interrogated for seven hours before they confessed to stealing the diamond at the exhibition. The diamond was subsequently recovered from a bottle of shampoo in their luggage.”
The duo have been charged with theft under the IPC, and police are investigating their if they have committed similar crimes in India.
