Is Jewellery Business Is A Dangerous Affair?
Jewellery business suffers not only from high gold prices and recession, but from a real physical danger. The story we are going to tell may be an extreme but many of the UK wholesales have been a subject to violent attacks and robberies.
Last week UK travelling diamond jeweller who is a regular visitor to EIRE and travels around the country for business deals with local jewellers has been brutally attacked in Dublin and robbed of 1m of precious stones and diamond jewellery
The jeweller was staying in his Travelodge Hotel room, Ballymun at around 12.15am on 30.01.10 when the three masked raiders, armed with a gun and a hammer forced their way in, battering him on the head with a hammer as he tackled one of them, and chased them into the street before they turned into Coultry Road.
Despite the effort, diamond jeweller failed to prevent the men from escaping and taking his suitcase containing diamonds and rubies and lost his life savings because the jewels were not insured.
Gardai believes he was the victim of opportunistic local criminals who became aware that he was carrying a valuable haul in his suitcase and kept watch on his movements until they established where he was staying. It is assumed that the raiders had no idea of the value of their haul and could now become the focus of more serious players in the crime world who are looking for a slice of the fortune, especially since the jewels are unmarked in any way, and therefore easier to «fence», because they are not traceable.
Investigators are also tracing all known contacts of the jeweller since he arrived in Dublin to try and establish how the gang knew that the contents of the case were so valuable.
After Gardai arrived at the scene he was taken to the Mater Hospital for treatment for lacerations, receiving around 50 stitches on his head. The doctor stated that if the injuries were a quarter of an inch left or right, the result would be an immediate death.
Last year a very similar story has happened in Manchester where opportunistic criminals attacked the jeweller in his car, breaking his door window, slicing his hand with a machete and disappearing with his stock.
When we are talking about ethical jewellery it is important to remember that bloody gold and diamonds are not only coming from conflict zones- they are also coming from UK and Ireland.
Not only the second hand but also the new jewellery as well can be of concern, as the stolen stock is flogged back into the UK wholesale market ending up in the UK and Ireland jewellery shops with or without conscious knowledge of the retailers. The situation is even more appalling during this recession when an exceptionally high gold price and the greed drive some people to commit the crime.
If we are to tackle the issue of bloody diamonds and gold we should start at home.
Visit www.GoldandSilverJewelleryShop.com for ethically sourced jewellery.