A man has swallowed a £35,000 engagement ring – in an alleged bid to steal it
Staff at Elegance Jewellers said they were confused when one of the three engagement rings they were showing a man seemingly disappeared.
Junaid Hassan, 28, who runs the family business, says they didn’t spot the princess-cut diamond ring being taken, and had to watch their CCTV to figure out what happened.
The footage shows the customer picking up the ring and swiftly putting it in his mouth before he allegedly swallows it and tries to leave.
When staff at the store in Hatton Garden, central London, confronted the shopper about the unusual tactic, they claim he put his fingers down his throat and brought the ring back up to return it.
Junaid said: ‘It was really crazy. I still can’t believe that it happened. You never know who you are sitting in front of.
‘We just happened to catch him. You don’t know where else he has been that people just haven’t noticed. It was absolutely insane.
‘We have been in Hatton Garden for three generations, and we have never seen anyone swallow a ring before.
‘I can’t even take paracetamol without water, I don’t know how he did it. It could have scratched his insides. He was talking normally, you couldn’t even tell it was in there.’
Another staff member who was at the scene at the time told Metro: ‘The guy just seemed normal and was very calm.
‘At one point, he asked for water as he probably wanted to try to digest the ring, so we obviously refused. It really was crazy.
‘Obviously, when something like this happens, you review security measures – and in this case, the CCTV saved us.’
Hatton Garden already has its own security team that patrols the streets, but shop owners have been upgrading cameras and taking other measures following the incident.
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