Rs10 crore ‘blood diamond’ seized in Surat

What may upset the diamond traders of Surat in particular and the state in general is that DRI officials caught on Friday two people with what are believed to be blood diamonds worth Rs10 crore, in Surat. The diamonds are said to be of Zimbabwean origin.

Based on a tip-off, the DRI officials apprehended two people identified as Jorabhai and Premabhai, both residents of Navsari district, near Saiyedpura in Surat. Sources said the officials seized rough-cut diamonds weighing a total 9.72kg. The value of the diamonds is said to be Rs10.17 crore. It is one of the biggest cases of blood diamonds making their way to Surat, popularly known as ‘diamond city’ in the country.

“The diamonds are of Zimbabwean origin and were smuggled to Surat via Nairobi, Mumbai and Navsari. After the tip-off, the duo was caught while they were looking for potential buyers in the city. It is for the first time that Indians have been caught with blood diamonds,” the sources said. Earlier, two foreign nationals — Robai Hussain of Guyana and Yusuf Ossely of Lebanon —  were caught with blood diamonds worth Rs3.85 crore in Surat in 2008.

The duo was sentenced last year to four years of imprisonment.
Blood diamond conflict diamond refers to the diamond mined under conditions of gross human rights violation. There are many controversies because of the diamonds being from Zimbabwe.

The western world and NGOs are opposing the diamond mines in Zimbabwe citing charges of human rights violations.

Recently in a controversial move, the chairman of Kimberly Process (KP) approved the sale of Zimbabwean diamonds. The KP was launched in 2003 to curb the flow of conflict diamonds.