One of the world's most prolific international jewel thieves, Jean Herrina, may face trial in France for his alleged role in a famous Hong Kong diamond heist under a radical proposal before the Department of Justice.
Herrina, 47, a smooth-talking conman also known as 'the Sultan' or 'the Emir', disguised himself as an oil-rich sheikh to carry out his stings. He enjoyed a jet-setting criminal career before being arrested in Paris two years ago.
A legal source revealed yesterday that the Department of Justice - in an attempt to send a warning to other international jewel thieves and syndicates targeting Hong Kong - was considering a French proposal to have Herrina face a second trial for his alleged crime in Hong Kong.
'The French authorities have proposed that, if he is convicted and jailed for his crimes there, six months before he is due to be released, he will be hauled back to court and tried for the Hong Kong crime,' the source said.
With a lifestyle that read like a Hollywood film script, Herrina, a master of disguise, was wanted by law enforcement agencies in places that included Beverly Hills in California, Florida, Sydney, Geneva, London and Hong Kong before he was nabbed in the bedroom of a female Parisian aristocrat in September 2001.
A year earlier, the French national was alleged to have stolen two diamonds worth US$2 million in an audacious heist at a jewellers in Queen's Road Central. One of the diamonds - contained in a ring called the Warrior - belonged to California Fitness boss Eric Levine, who was trying to sell it at the time. Aided by an accomplice, Herrina feigned a heart attack in front of jeweller Michael Youssoufian to make his escape.
Hong Kong police were on the verge of arresting him when he slipped past customs to board an Air France flight to Paris.