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Namibia: Israeli arrested over diamond heist
Erez Ben Shushan, suspected of involvement in theft of $2.6 million worth of diamonds from company he worked for, released on bail, his passport confiscated
An Israeli national was arrested in Namibia in connection with the theft of diamonds worth $2.6 million from a Namibian polishing company, police said on Friday.
"We can confirm the arrest of on Israeli national, Erez Ben Shushan, who appeared in the magistrate court of Okahandja on Wednesday," a police official, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
"Shushan was released on bail of (about $14,000), his passport was confiscated and he must report to the Okahandja police station three times per week," said the official.
Polished and unpolished diamonds were stolen from a safe at NamGem, a subsidiary of the Namdeb diamond company, a joint venture of the Namibian government and De Beers.
The theft occurred on Wednesday at NamGem's offices in Okahandja, some 70 kilometers north of the capital, Windhoek.
Shushan was production manager at NamGem and also a representative of Lazare Kaplan International, a diamond manufacturing and distribution company based in United States.
Diamond exports are still rebounding from the global economic crisis last year, which slashed Namdeb's revenue by 40 percent.
Namdeb now says diamond production more than doubled in the first six months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.
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