A Chinese woman who allegedly tried to smuggle a stolen diamond out of Thailand by swallowing it was released from a hospital yesterday after doctors removed the expensive gem from her gut.
Police say the 39-year-old unnamed woman, who was to appear in court later yesterday, switched the 10 million baht (US$277,415) gem with a fake one at a jewelry fair on the northern outskirts of Bangkok on Thursday.
She then tried to flee Thailand undetected by ingesting the gem.
Investigators caught up to her as she tried to fly out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and an X-ray showed the diamond lodged in her gut. A 33-year-old Chinese man she was traveling with was also arrested.
Police say neither time nor laxatives dislodged the gem, and on Sunday doctors were called in to remove the stone.
“She is leaving the hospital — she is fine now,” police Colonel Mana Tienmuangpak, lead investigator on the case, told reporters yesterday.
He added that the woman would be taken to Nonthaburi Provincial Court, which would then decide whether she is to be remanded into custody as police continue to investigate.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Anchulee Theerawongpaisal, spokeswoman of the Police General Hospital where the woman was treated, said doctors used a colonoscope and instruments to remove the gem from her lower intestine.
“It took 12 minutes to extract it,” Anchulee said.
“It’s a normal surgical procedure, except this time there was a 10 million baht diamond involved,” she added.
While rare, it is not unheard of for gem thieves to swallow stones as they try to evade capture.
In September 2011, a thief who stole a diamond from a British woman in Spain was caught when police stopped him at a checkpoint and forced him to undergo an X-ray.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in