A 60-year-old woman convicted of forging seven diamonds and turning them into small stones has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison after completing her trial.
The incident took place in London in 2016 when a French woman, Lulu Lacatos, visited a large diamond shop, Bodies. She said she specializes in diamond jewelry and wants to see it. The woman, who belongs to an international criminal gang, posing as a representative of a Russian billionaire investor, said she had been sent here specifically to select diamonds.
But Lulu repeatedly said she could not speak English well and wasted no time. Meanwhile, he cleverly placed a bag of diamonds in his lap and replaced it with a bag containing only seven stones. He did this very cleverly, the details of which can be seen in the video which is becoming increasingly popular.
The case was heard in Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, where he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
According to police, the whole incident was planned. The day after arriving in the UK, she entered the store with two men and said that she works as a jeweler for some Russian billionaire and wants to buy seven diamonds here. After the initial introduction, she went back.
The next day she returned to the diamond shop and introduced herself as Anna. A store employee took him to a safe part of the shop and showed him diamonds worth US 5.8 million. The largest diamond is said to be worth Rs 300 million.
Nicholas Van Wright, head of the Bodies Company, was also present at the conversation, but had to leave because of a call. The call was made to him by a Russian buyer, Alexander, who was having lunch with him the day before and was interested in buying diamonds, but Alexander was also part of the plan.
As the shop's diamond expert Emma Barton and Lulu were left alone, Lulu kept a small diamond purse in her purse and cleverly replaced it with a one-of-a-kind wallet that Emma herself did not realize. The woman then came out of the shop and the whole group flew from London to France in three hours.
Some time later, when the same sealed purse was opened, it was found that it contained seven small stones instead of seven diamonds. Sergeant William, who is investigating the case, said it was a film-style incident in which the woman was arrested, but the search for the other two suspects was ongoing.
