Mumbai:
While the Mumbai police was able to nab the four foreigners in the Rs 6.6 crore diamond heist that took place on August 23 at the India International Jewellery Show in Goregaon, within hours of the crime. Completing investigation formalities though, is a matter lost in translation.
The foreigners speak Spanish, and not a word of English, making it difficult for the cops to understand them. They have hired a translator to interpret their statements from Spanish to English, but continue to face the tedious task of translating the English rendition into Marathi for documentation.
A police official said, "The accused don't speak English. We've hired an interpreter, but the double translation -- Spanish-English-Marathi -- is a lengthy operation, especially for eking information out of them."
The four foreign nationals are Guerrero Lugo Elvia Grissel, Gonzalez Maldonado Mauricio, Campos Molan Elias and Venezuelan national Gutierez Orlando. They stole the diamonds from the India International Jewellery Show-2010 (IIJS-2010) in Mumbai and fled to Dubai. The suspects put the diamonds in small plastic bags before swallowing them. The Dubai police made them purge out the valuables after taking them into custody.
The case was cracked after studying the CCTV footage and checking visitor records of the jewellery show, and records of the immigration offices at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
Himanshu Roy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), and Himanshu Roy, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), were unavailable for comment. The three Mexicans and lone Venezuelan were deported from Dubai on Thursday morning. The 'mastermind' Ander Welmor is said to have slipped out of the country. The Mumbai police are also looking for a local person who aided the foreigners in the crime. They are in police custody till September 5.