Black diamonds smuggled through Geneva
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Four large pearls, 750 black and white diamonds and several pieces of jewelry were tucked under knee braces worn by a man stopped by customs officers at Cornavin station Wednesday 2 November at 10:30.
The thin man’s pants covered the braces; police have not said what made customs officers suspicious.
The man was traveling from Paris and transiting in Geneva but without declaring the goods, say Geneva police.
Smuggling them through Switzerland is costing him several thousand francs in fines.
He also has to pay nearly CHF5,000 as a guarantee until he exports the merchandise.
Cut diamonds being smuggled through Geneva
"Amber" diamonds, part of the police haul
The man was hiding, in nylon stockings under braces such as people with knee injuries wear: 4 pearls of 23.22 carats, 750 diamonds of various sizes and carats, as well as some $70,000 worth of jewelry.
Swiss border guards and sniffer dog during a car check for drugs (photo, ©2011 Photopress /EZV/Peter Klaunzer)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva will have added a total of 77 border guards in two years by mid-2012, with the federal government approving the recruitment of an additional 24 Thursday 3 February. The new recruits will begin training in July 2011 and join the Geneva team in mid-2012.
Another group of recruits began training in January, reinforcing a group of 29 who were added to Geneva’s team in 2010.
Border guards and customs officers are both part of the Swiss Federal Customs Office, with the unarmed customs officers responsible for checking goods (trade). The border guards are responsible for checking for smuggling in and out of the country, including drug smuggling, but they also trace persons, vehicles and stolen property, search for document fraud, and work with police units that survey immigration and traffic.
Smuggling has taken a new turn since the Schengen Accord came into effect for Switzerland in 2008, allowing the free movement of people within the area, which includes most of the European Union and Switzerland. Many customs posts closed, without the need for regular passport checks, making it easier for citizens to cross borders, but also for smugglers and criminals. Geneva is an entry point for Italian and French criminals.
Diamonds are a thieve's best friends (Franck Muller watch)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Times of India reports that police in Mumbai have recovered 20 diamond-studded Franck Muller watches worth several million dollars and six less expensive timepieces as well as “chemicals”, stuffed into the cavity of a toilet on an Air India flight that landed in Mumbai Monday night 10 January.
They were alerted to the possibility of smuggled goods on the plane, which had flown from Abu Dhabi, but they arrived after passengers left the plane. Maintenance staff are being investigated as the most likely suspects, officials told the Times, because a smuggler would have to be certain the person on the receiving end could carry the goods out of the airport.
Stolen gold jewelry, melted down, is often a source of smuggled gold
Lake Como, Italy (GenevaLunch) – Italy’s financial police have seized 150kg of gold, according to an ats agency report, but they also arrested 30 people as they uncovered a gold smuggling ring between Italy and Switzerland.
The group appears to have smuggled more than 5 tons of gold, mainly to gold-working factories in northern Italy, according to TSR (Fre). Most of the smuggling was reportedly done by hiding the gold in car trunks.
The British government says that it is “alarmed and deeply concerned” by the Chinese high court’s decision to execute British citizen Akmal Shaikh, age 53, accused of smuggling heroin. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s request 21 December to reprieve the man appears to have been turned down, with a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson saying at a regular news conference that he is slated to be executed. Shaikh looks likely to be the first British citizen sentenced to death in China in 50 years.
Shaikh’s family has not seen him for several years, but family members and the British government say they believe him to be suffering from untreated bipolar disorder and possibly an additional delusional disorder that explain his erratic behaviour before his arrest in Urumqi, in western China, in July 2007. He left the UK to set up an airline in Poland, although he had no money, and then left for Kyrgystan to become a pop star. He claims that he was given the suitcase with heroin by a fellow traveler. China says he has had a fair trial. He is sentenced to die 29 December.
Bellinzona, Ticino, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – More than CHF1 billion laundered in Switzerland, the profits from contraband cigarettes that went from Switzerlnd to Italy via Montenegro in Switzerland: the trial opens 1 April of 10 people charged with money laundering, the largest organized crime trial in Switzerland.
