Dubai police have arrested three men accused of orchestrating a sophisticated scheme to steal a rare pink diamond worth $25 million, in what officials described as one of the most audacious jewel thefts attempted in the emirate.
The suspects, all of Asian nationality, posed as intermediaries for a wealthy buyer, tracking the diamond’s import from Europe to Dubai. Renting luxury cars and arranging hotel meetings with the jeweller, the gang cultivated an image of affluence to win the merchant’s trust.
As part of the ruse, they even hired a diamond expert to examine the 21.5-carat gem — a stone police say is extraordinarily rare, with “exceptional clarity, symmetry, and polish.” Reports suggest there is just a 0.01 per cent chance of finding another like it.
The jeweller was eventually lured to a villa in Dubai to meet the supposed client. Once he arrived, the gang seized the diamond and prepared to smuggle it out of the country hidden inside a small refrigerator.
Authorities acted swiftly. “As soon as the merchant reported the theft, a specialised task force was formed to identify and locate the three suspects,” Dubai police said in a statement. “The suspects initially lived together but separated after the heist and moved to different locations. Police teams raided these locations simultaneously, apprehended the suspects, and recovered the diamond before it could leave the country.”
CCTV footage released by police shows the men entering the jeweller’s premises before the theft. Days later, officers were seen raiding multiple homes where the suspects had attempted to lie low.
The diamond has since been safely returned.
Such high-value thefts are rare in Dubai, a city that prides itself on its reputation as one of the world’s safest. While the UAE’s luxury landscape draws international jewellers and collectors, strict laws and a heavy security presence have kept major heists infrequent.
Pink diamonds, however, have long been a magnet for criminal networks. The now-closed Argyle mine in Australia, which once produced 90% of the world’s supply, was the target of a notorious smuggling ring in the 1980s that spirited away tens of millions of dollars’ worth of stones — many of which were never recovered.
The recovered Dubai stone, by contrast, is now back in secure custody, bringing a swift end to what could have been one of the most significant jewel thefts in recent memory.
