As previously reported by Jeweller, an English tourist was arrested on Thursday 20 February trying to leave the country after allegedly stealing a AU$200,000 Argyle diamond from The Diamond Gallery store.
At the time, police had suspected that 29-year-old Matthew Osborne had swallowed the gemstone, however, this was apparently not the case.
“We’ve had him X-rayed and scanned and it’s not in him or on him. All he had with him was one backpack, and it’s been searched to the nth degree,” Cairns detective acting senior sergeant Brad McLeish told Fairfax Media.
Police were reportedly “covering all possibilities”, believing Osborne might have attempted to smuggle the diamond out of the country or post it overseas.
Osborne has been charged for the theft.
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Rare Argyle diamond possibly swallowed in theft