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Alrosa Employee, 2 Others Arrested for Stealing Diamonds
They were arrested last week with their latest haul, a batch of rough diamonds worth more than $300,000, the company said.
Moscow—Law enforcement authorities in Russia have arrested an Alrosa employee and two other individuals for allegedly stealing and selling millions of dollars in rough diamonds from the mining company.
Alrosa confirmed in a statement that on Thursday, law enforcement authorities arrested one employee of the United Selling Organization, the arm of the company that sorts and grades rough diamonds, and her accomplices as they tried to make off with a batch of diamonds worth more than 22 million rubles (about $340,000).
It described the theft ring as a “large-scale scheme” involving “high-quality” rough diamonds that had been conducted on “an ongoing basis.”
The company did not release figures on the total value of the diamonds stolen, though Reuters reported that Russian police found about $3 million in stolen stones and more than $2.5 million in cash at the suspects’ homes. They also found finished jewelry and diamond-set watches.
A video shared by the Russian Investigative Committee shows the arrest of the employee and her accomplices as well as the diamonds, cash, jewelry and watches.
Alrosa said its security service participated in the investigation and that it will continue to conduct its own internal investigation into the theft ring.
“A few years ago, Alrosa proclaimed a course to eradicate corruption. The course will continue,” the company said.
Alrosa is the world’s largest diamond producer by volume and second only to De Beers by value. Last year, the company mined 36.7 million carats of diamonds, and its sales totaled more than $4 billion.
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