BANGKOK — Police extracted a stolen diamond from a Chinese tourist who swallowed the gem, officials said Monday.
Police doctors used surgical pliers to remove the 6-carat diamond from the intestines of 39-year-old Jiang Chuliang, Col. Sanit Mahataworn said.
A police spokesman had earlier said that the gem was stuck in the woman's throat.
Jiang stole the diamond – estimated to be worth about 10 million baht – from a gems exposition last week and swallowed it to pass through airport security checks undetected.
But she was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport after matching the description of the thief caught on from closed-circuit video footage of the exposition.
Jiang confessed to stealing the diamond after having been X-rayed at the Police General Hospital.
Doctors resorted to extraction because laxatives had failed, police said.
Sanit said that the diamond will now be taken to the owner for verification. Jiang will be allowed to recover in hospital before being handed over to police.
Story: DPA / Cod Satrusayang
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