A ring of jewel thieves must've thought they made quite the literal steal after they managed to boost a rare $25 million pink diamond—though that victory was short-lived, as they were reportedly nabbed just a few hours later. Police in Dubai say the gem was transported to the UAE city by a jewel trader who believed he was meeting up with an affluent possible buyer, per CBS News. However, when the trader showed up at the predetermined meeting place with what were actually members of a criminal gang, the diamond vanished.
"I just had a problem," a man believed to be the trader says in an emergency call released by the Dubai Media Office. "I came to meet a client to sell a diamond to them. They looked at the stone and now ... it's stolen." Gulf News reports the trader was lured to the meeting after the gang members went to the trouble of renting fancy cars, setting up meetings in posh hotels, and even recruiting a diamond expert to assess the 21.25-carat gem, rated as "Fancy Intense" and with "excellent" clarity, symmetry, and polish.
Police arrived immediately, and the trader says that, "to my surprise, the very next morning, they called to say the suspects had been arrested and the diamond recovered." Authorities say that three suspects from an unspecified Asian nation were rounded up within eight hours of the theft, "thanks to the efforts of specialized and field teams, and by using the latest artificial intelligence technologies," per CBS.
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The trader, meanwhile, says he let his guard down and is now warning others in his industry. "Dubai has become a safe global hub for diamond trade," he tells Gulf News. "It's important we uphold the standards that make that possible." (A $2 million heist in Seattle took less than two minutes.)
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