Smooth diamond robbery takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Jul 14 2010 |
He could barely speak English and carried no weapon. A smartly dressed man, carrying a Louis Vuitton bag and wearing a Louis Vuitton belt, doesn't look suspicious or out of place in an upmarket jewellery store.
The customer spoke in a soft voice as he made himself comfortable on a chair in the store and got busy examining expensive jewellery with a special magnifier, called a loupe.
All that is known is that when "Mr Cho" - who introduced himself as Japanese - left the Jack Friedman jewellery store in Sandton, he had taken a diamond costing R230 000 and left behind a simulant - a worthless imitation that looks like a diamond.
It all started on Tuesday when the man entered Browns Jewellers in Mandela Square and asked to see their loose diamonds.
It is not known whether he was shown the diamonds, as store owner Gavin Brown refused to elaborate.
From there, the man walked a few metres to Sandton City and entered the Jack Friedman jewellery store. In broken and halting English, he asked the saleslady, Gerry Garcia, to show him some 2-carat diamond rings.
Garcia brought him several of the rings on display. Through a diamond chart, she then explained the quality and clarity of the diamonds.
The man said he did not like what was presented to him and asked to see a better diamond. Garcia then put the rings in a drawer and brought out a diamond.
"I gave him the diamond in tweezers and gave him a loupe to have a look. He said he wanted to look at the rings again, especially the one with a three-stone solitaire. He then said he liked the diamond and would like it on that ring (the one with a three-stone solitaire) and asked how much it would cost to manufacture," Garcia recalled.
The price of the ring was R108 000, while the 1.5-carat white diamond was R230 000.
While the man was still looking at the diamond and the ring, Garcia started doing the calculations. She believes it was at that moment, while her head was down, that he stole the diamond.
"Maybe the fake diamond was stuck in his sleeve," she said.
After doing the calculations, she took the loupe, tweezers and diamond from the man, who then told Garcia he was no longer interested in the diamond. He wanted only the ring, and asked what the price would be in dollars.
Garcia calculated again and told him it would be $15 500. He then took out a Louis Vuitton wallet, showed Garcia a black card with what looked like Japanese print on it and said he was going to the bank to get money. He gave her $500 and told her to put the ring away for him because he was coming back.
Excited about making a sale, Garcia started looking for the certificate of the diamond on the ring and asked her colleague, who is a jeweller, to pack the rings away and double-check that everything was fine.
While putting away the rings, the jeweller noticed that the diamond was heavier than normal. They weighed it and also used a diamond tester, which beeps when the stone is genuine. In this case, it did not.
"I went cold and my heart dropped to my kneecaps... I felt sick and knew he had changed the stone," Garcia said.
Staff at Browns remembered the man and were able to produce CCTV footage of him entering the store.
A case has been opened at the Sandton police station.
Source: Botho Molosankwe, Sunday Independent
Last changed: Jul 14 2010 at 11:26 AM
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