Mumbai:
In a Mumbai court, in sign language, they conveyed that they are not being mistreated by the police.
There were four of them - the youngest, 24; the oldest, almost 40. In Ocean's 11 fashion, they flew into Mumbai from different parts of South America on August 17. For a week, they perfected their plan. Then, on August 23, they met, as arranged, at a massive jewellery exposition in Mumbai's Goregaon Park.
Their target was a stall owned by Israeli company Dalumi. The men - all Mexican - engaged the lone salesperson on duty. The woman - a Venezuelan - picked up a box packed with 1800 diamonds worth 6.6 crores.
They left the stall and headed for the Mumbai airport. Before boarding a flight to Dubai, they swallowed some of the diamonds. A few were concealed in the lining of their jackets.
By then, the Dalumi salesperson had alerted the Mumbai police. Security cameras were scanned - the foreigners were spotted at work.
While they were in transit, the Mumbai police alerted Interpol. When the gang landed in Dubai, they were arrested. They returned to Mumbai early on Thursday morning, and are now in police custody. 1600 of the 1800 diamonds that were stolen have been recovered. The police won't say if the stones that were swallowed are among these.
A fifth member of their gang who worked with the gang on the Mumbai job has yet to be traced. But the police believe that they are part of a larger international ring of criminals.