Man Swallows Diamond Worth More Than $13,000 In Sri Lanka
Man swallows diamond. Man gets caught. Man goes to jail.
That was the gist of the story after a 32-year-old Chinese man hatched a plot to steal a 1.5 carat diamond in Sri Lanka by eating it whole.
The man swallows diamond story took place at a gem exhibit in Sri Lanka, where exhibitor Suresh Wijekoon noticed a customer behaving suspiciously at his store, ABC News reported. As Wijekoon moved closer to the man, he noticed that he snatched and swallowed a diamond. The 1.5-carat diamond was valued at 1.8 million Sir Lankan rupees, or about $13,636.
The man swallows diamond heist took place at Facets Sri Lanka 2012, the country’s largest annual gem and jewelry fair. Though Sri Lanka does not have diamond mines of its own, it has gained an international reputation for highly treasured gems, The Associated Press reported. The exhibit where the man swallowed the diamond attracts a number of local and foreign buyers of diamonds and other gems.
After the man swallowed the diamond, he was taken to Colombo National Hospital where an x-ray confirmed Wijekoon’s suspicions, that he did indeed have a diamond in his stomach. The man was taken into custody, but not before another expensive procedure.
“Doctors have advised surgery to remove the diamond,” police spokesman Ajith Rohana told the American Free Press
Oddly enough, this isn’t even the first man swallows diamond case to take place this year. In Windsor, Ontario, this May, a man tried to steal a $20,000 diamond by ingesting it, but an alert saleswoman caught his move and alerted authorities. This man got off a bit easier than the Chinese diamond swallower, though — he was allowed to pass the diamond naturally rather than have surgery to remove it.
