$9.2m in gems stolen on last day of fair

More than $9.2 million worth of diamonds were stolen yesterday from jewellers attending the Hong Kong Jewellery and Watch Fair - taking the total value of gems snatched from fair participants over the past week to more than $23 million.

Two of yesterday's cases occurred inside the Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue of the five-day fair which began last Wednesday, while the third theft happened in a hotel near the centre.

Police said the first theft was reported by an Israeli jeweller shortly after 5.30pm when he discovered a tray of his gems worth about US$500,000 was missing from his stall.

Three hours later a jeweller from Belgium found that four diamonds worth US$280,000 had disappeared from his stall.

At 9pm, police received a report that two jewellers had found their hotel room ransacked and jewellery worth US$400,000 stolen along with US$13,000 in cash.