A 28-year old diamond broker from New York-based Trapz LLC was held up and robbed of $500,000 worth of goods while in Dallas on Thursday, DallasNews.com reported. Citing police documents, the website said the broker was confronted by robbers as he got into his vehicle in a hotel parking lot at about 9 a.m.

A vehicle pulled up behind him and one person got out and smashed the broker’s driver side window, while another smashed his passenger side window, the report said. One of the robbers displayed a knife as they took the man’s three bags worth of diamonds and some of his personal property, the report said. The broker was not seriously injured.

continue reading "New York Diamond Broker Robbed of $500K Goods in Dallas"

Herman Scholtz, Beeld

Johannesburg - The suspected robber who died in police custody on Tuesday had “most likely” murdered the prominent diamond dealer, Michel Rubenik, 50.

Rubenik was shot down near his workplace at the Diamond Centre in the Johannesburg city centre on Monday evening.

A few hours later the police caught four suspects in a silver Toyota Corolla on the M1 highway and had to “use violence” to arrest them.

The suspects pointed an AK-47 at the officers when they wanted to force the vehicle off the road. An R5 assault rifle and a pistol were also found in their possession.

One of the four suspects “passed out” later in the Norwoord police station and died.

Provincial police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said on Wednesday the four suspects could “in all likelihood” be linked to Rubenik’s murder.

Rubenik was approached near his workplace by two vehicles, a Toyota Corolla and a Mercedes-Benz, before he was shot from one of the cars.

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MUMBAI: A marketing executive working for a diamond firm at Opera House, under the pretext of selling diamonds, misappropriated the expensive stones valued at Rs 3.34 crore. He was arrested by the crime branch. The accused, Nilesh Kirtibhai Shah (36), used to work as a marketing executive for Intergold Gems Private Limited that has an office at Opera House in Charni Road.

The police have also arrested two more businessmen identified as Jitendra Ramanlal Doshi (45) and Suresh Hiralal Soni (45). Both had received the stolen property (diamonds), said sources. While Doshi is a commission agent at Panchratna building, Soni is a jeweller and money-lender in south Mumbai. The police were able to recover diamonds valued at Rs 34 lakh from the accused.

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Three more men have been arrested in an investigation into the theft of $2 million of jewellery, including rare pink diamonds, in a Sydney ram raid.

Thieves took 359 pieces of jewellery after smashing a four-wheel drive into a Sydney CBD store in January.

Among the latest arrests is a 29-year-old man who will today face Central Local Court on five counts of robbery whilst armed and in company.

The man and two others, aged 24 and 27, have been charged with participating in a criminal group.

The men were arrested yesterday in a probe into the theft of a car and subsequent armed robberies throughout Sydney’s north shore, inner west and CBD.

Three other men were charged in August and September over the robberies.

In May this year, a police search of a house in Balmain uncovered 89 unique pieces of jewellery worth more than $100,000.

The stolen pink diamonds were worth more than $1.9 million.

Source: www.abc.net.au

TORONTO — It was not crime as usual in Toronto this week: thieves made their way to one of the city’s toniest neighbourhoods and stole a safe from a home owned by members of the Bronfman family. The haul, valued at over $1-million, included a two Stanley Cup rings and a flawless six-carat diamond.

“I haven’t seen a case like this before,” said Toronto police detective Liz Benoit, who is heading the investigation into the high-value robbery, which is believed to be one of the richest residential break and enter cases in Canadian history.

The robbery took place last Saturday evening at the home of Paul and Judy Bronfman, who belong to one of Canada’s wealthiest family dynasties. The couple live in an exclusive section of Toronto’s Forest Hill neighbourhood, in a 22,000-square foot home set on a private lane.

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Five illegal diamond miners were shot dead by police over the weekend in the Chiadzwa diamond fields of Marange District. According to human rights lawyer Passmore Nyakureba, police ‘drove’ the miners into an ambush using a helicopter, and fired tear gas and live ammunition. The miners had escaped from the diamond fields and were hiding in nearby mountains. Bloomberg news agency journalist Brian Latham told Newsreel that he spoke to Nyakureba over the phone and the lawyer confirmed these incidents have ‘become an almost everyday occurrence.’ The total number of miners killed could be much higher as more information keeps trickling in.

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