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AFP - Getty Images
A Sri Lankan security official and uniformed police escort a Chinese national accused of stealing a diamond by swallowing it at Sri Lanka's main gem and jewellery exhibition in Colombo on Wednesday.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan police arrested a Chinese tourist suspected of swallowing a diamond worth $13,600 on Wednesday at the island nation's biggest international gem and jewelry exhibition.
Chow Cheng, 32, is believed to have swallowed the diamond as he inspected it at the exhibition, attended by buyers from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, India and Europe, police said.
"His intention was to steal it," police spokesman Ajith Rohana told Reuters. "The x-ray shows the diamond is in his throat."
The Associated Press reported that the diamond was 1.5 carats.
Suresh Christopher Wijekoon, owner of the exhibition stall, said Chow had tried to switch the original diamond with a synthetic one.
"He realized that I noticed it. Then he immediately swallowed it," Wijekoon told Reuters.
Take a look at some striking images from Sri Lanka on NBC's PhotoBlog
The man was taken to a hospital where he was given laxatives, an unnamed police officer told the AFP news agency, according to the BBC.
The diamond's owner, named by the BBC's Charles Haviland as Suresh de Silva, said the swallowed stone may have been the fake one, and that tests would have to be carried out to confirm which one it was.
De Silva also said that the suspect had an accomplice who tried to create a distraction, the BBC reported. It was not immediately clear what the attempted distraction was.
According to de Silva, swallowing a diamond is dangerous because its point can damage a person's intestines, the BBC reported.
The Indian Ocean island is famed for its blue sapphires, diamonds and a jewelry industry that accounted for $532 million of its export revenue in 2011.
The AP reported that the jewelry exhibition where the incident took place was called Facets Sri Lanka 2012.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
He better hope they don't do emergency surgery to save his life with a machette. They might accidently cut his head off.
That'll be one expensive number 2.
as someone who has worked in the diamond industry for 10 years, THIS is the reason why people from the public are not allowed at tradeshows. better screening wouldve prevented this man from being at the show.
Not the first time someone had to swallow to get a diamond I suppose.
@ rockmebirtney -- why would any vendor at the show allow an unknown to handle a $13.5K then?
Would the diamond now have a brown tint?
I think there's new meaning behind "tight a$$"
Yes, haven't you ever heard of a yellow diamond?
So this guy is going to pass a stone;=}
Steve-2057180 Ha, ha. Good one Steve!
Castor Oil... 'nuff said.
As all of life's problems, this too will pass.
Christian; an expensive #2 is when your Sigmoid colon ruptures - mine was well over $100K.
Creek Dog; I worked for a water and sewer district for 20 plus years - getting called out to find jewelry in the sewer is very common...and a little spit and a few licks and it cleans right up.
If diamond cuts glass, what does it do to someone's intestines? Ouch? : )
He was hungry for carrots.
Holy crap that's gonna hurt.
HAHAHAHA glad I wasn't the only one thinking that!!!!!!!!
Yep, if he did not have hemorrhoids he will.
More like bloody crap.
On the brighter side, it probably won't take him too much time to crap it out if he's eating Sri Lanka jail food.
Hey, Sam, that diamond could do a hemorrhoidectomy on its way out.
Brown diamonds are NOT girls' best friend!
A bride somewhere someday will really really not want to know the history of the diamond in her ring.
.
.
@WinWin4All:
We've all heard of Blood Diamonds. Would this be a S#!+ Diamond?
.
.
Make him swallow a big turd next... in no time you will have your diamond back!
You ever hear the saying ( That guy is so cheap that if you put a lump of coal up his ass in a week you would have a diamond) Same principle but this guy wanted to speed up the process. LOL.
Yep. It was in "Ferris Beuller's Day Off". I was thinking it too!
He can look at it this way , If he has any pollops the diamond should cut them out. This story is just to funny.
polyps I think it's what you mean.
Well I guess it's jail time until he craps it out, and then someone will have to dig for it. Gives a whole new meaning to 'digging for diamonds.'
Wow! Good thing I read that part. I was just getting ready to have one for lunch.
First name? Chow. How can you not like that? By the way a 1 1/2 carat diamond is not going to do any damage as it pass though the insides of the not so inscrutable gent.
Not to be pedantic, but he's Chinese so Chow is his last name. Still funny, though
That is going to be one expensive @#@$5.
Groom to Bride: "Hi honey - hey - I got you a really great stone for your wedding ring. Only thing is the guy who had it before me......."
Who the hell would pay over $13000 for a one-and a half carat diamond even sans fecal matter??!!
Who? The one percenter Chinese.
it must be flawless.
"Ok, sleeze-bag, cough it up!"
I think they should just put him in a holding cell with nothing but a bowl and make him dig for the diamond himself, sans gloves. Don't let him out until he produces the diamond. Then don't let him wash his hands for another few hours.
It's in his throat ? it should be in his stomach. Somebody give that man some bread so he may properly swallow it, then they can get it at the other end. One 1/2 carat is not very big. It should have gone down easier.
...it'll all come out ok in the end!
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night!
Wait, so they are going to wait for this guy to dump out the "diamond" then test that one? Why can't they just test the one he may or may not have switched? Someone better be getting double, or even triple pay for that job.
I had to reread that sentence as well.
If the fake and authentic diamonds are that difficult to tell apart it might mean they are both real or both fake. Maybe the diamond's owner didn't even have a real one.
Holy Crap.. another Chinese robber just after stole money from ATM on day light in Colombo city.....
Ohh.... just remembering thr BLOOD DIAMOND movie.....
Once my grandmother went fishing with my grandfather, and she lost her diamond ring in the lake. A couple of months later, my grandfather went fishing at the same lake and caught a large trout. He brought it back to the house and my grandmother started to clean the fish to prepare it for dinner, when minutes later, everyone heard her cry out from the kitchen. "I don't believe it!" she yelled. "What? What?, we cried, running in, and she sobbed, "The cat grabbed the fish off the counter!".
The end
OMG!! I laughed so hard tears ran down my leg...
That was funny...thank you!
The perp is really lucky someone didn't actually go after the diamond with a knife.
This diamond won't hurt his innards...it'll be covered in crap. I agree with a previous poster. He should be put in a cell with no food, just water and laxatives, and not be allowed out until he finds the diamond himself.
He will be convicted on "Crappy Evidence". A Publiic Defender's worst nightmare ....
I bet it tastes like Chicken ....
"The man was taken to a hospital where he was given laxatives" Best line EVER.
If you don't eat a lot of them at the same time, you'll be hungry later....
If you think that was good, wait'll you taste the earrings!