NEW DELHI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Most of the diamonds in the 50 million U.S. dollars heist in Belgium were bound for the western Indian state of Gujarat's town of Surat via Switzerland for cutting and polishing, a media report said Thursday.
The rough diamonds, which were robbed in a daring heist from Brussels airport Monday night, were actually meant for small and medium unit owners in Surat for cutting and polishing before finally reaching the jewelry showrooms worldwide, "The Times of India" newspaper reported.
"We are gathering the list of people to whom the rough diamonds were to be delivered in Surat. It is estimated that 90 per cent of the goods were bound for Surat via Switzerland," Surat Diamond Association President Dinesh Navadia was quoted as saying.
Surat is known as the diamond capital of India. Diamantairies in the Belgium city of Antwerp often outsource the cutting and polishing work of the precious stones to firms in Surat in a bid to take advantage of the low-cost labor market in this country.
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