Chinese ‘thief’ ‘swallows diamond’

BANGKOK: A Chinese woman who allegedly tried to smuggle a stolen diamond out of Thailand by swallowing it was released from hospital on Monday after doctors removed the expensive gem from her gut.
Police say the 39-year-old unnamed woman, who appeared in court later on Monday, switched the 10 million baht gem with a fake one at a jewellery 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 who she was travelling 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 AFP on Monday.