LAGOS, May 20 (Xinhuanet) -- A massive diamond unearthed last
month in Sierra Leone has been smuggled out of the country to
Belgium and on to Israel, according to reports reaching here on
Monday from Freetown.
   "Government has got information that an Israeli-based company
took a diamond into Belgium with the caratage ranging from 443
carats and above," Lawrence Myers, the head of the Sierra Leone
Government Gold and Diamond Office, was quoted as saying.
   Myers said the company has been suspected to pass the diamond
through the Belgian port of Antwerp and on to Israel, but did not
give the name of the company.
   Most of Sierra Leone's diamonds are shipped to Antwerp, the
world's biggest market for uncut diamonds.
   The information came after the authorities in Sierra Leone put
all security measures in place to trace the whereabouts of an
alleged 1,000 carat diamond said to have been found on April 22.
   If true, the gem would be the second largest ever found. The
biggest would remain the 3,107 carat "Cullinan" diamond found in
South Africa in 1905, followed at the moment by the 995 carat "
Excelsior" gem and the 969 carat "Star of Sierra Leone".
   Sierra Leone has been a rich source of diamonds for decades and
former rebels in the former British colony sold gems, known as "
blood diamonds", to fund a brutal 10-year civil war which
officially ended in January this year.
   A certification system was set up in 2000 with the United
Nations help to stem the flow of  "blood diamonds" and the
government is keen to ensure gems are exported officially.
   According to figures released by the government, legal exports
in 2001 were worth 26 million U.S. dollars, more than twice the 10.
1 million dollars in 2000 and more than 20 times the 1.2 million
dollars for 1999.  Enditem