Jewellers say suspect spent hours posing as a genuine customer before allegedly hiding the diamond in the most unexpected place.
For centuries, people have gone to extraordinary lengths to win someone’s heart. But if allegations by a London jeweller are anything to go by, one man may have taken that desperation to an astonishing new level.
A jewellery store in London’s famous Hatton Garden has released dramatic CCTV footage which it says captures the moment a customer swallowed a £35,000 (about ₦75 million) diamond engagement ring in a bizarre attempt to steal it.
According to Elegance Jewellers, the incident unfolded in June 2025 after a man spent nearly two hours carefully examining engagement rings, apparently posing as a serious buyer before one of the expensive pieces mysteriously vanished.
Staff said they had shown him three rings, including a princess-cut diamond engagement ring valued at about £35,000, before realising one was missing.
Initially baffled, employees reviewed security footage to determine what had happened.
What they claim they discovered stunned even seasoned jewellers.
According to the family-run business, the CCTV footage allegedly shows the customer placing the ring into his mouth before swallowing it and calmly attempting to walk out of the store.
When challenged by staff, the man allegedly denied taking the jewellery and even invited employees to search his pockets, insisting he had nothing to hide.
But repeated reviews of the surveillance footage, the jewellers said, appeared to reveal the moment the ring disappeared—straight down his throat.
Store manager Junaid Hassan, 28, said staff confronted the suspect and demanded the ring be returned.
According to the jewellers, the man eventually forced himself to vomit, recovered the diamond ring and handed it back before security personnel escorted him from the premises.
“This is something we’ve never experienced in more than 30 years of business,” Hassan said, describing the incident as unlike any attempted theft the family had previously encountered.
His father, Syed Hassan, who attended to the customer, recalled that the man arrived shortly before closing time, claiming he intended to return the next day to complete the purchase.
Instead, the jewellers allege, he attempted to leave with the ring concealed inside his body.
The recovered piece was a platinum engagement ring featuring a large princess-cut diamond surrounded by smaller stones.
The family also believes the suspect may have been familiar with sophisticated distraction tactics.
During the confrontation, they claim he telephoned a contact saved in his mobile phone as “999”—the UK’s emergency number—in what they suspect was an attempt to pressure staff into allowing him to leave before police could become involved.
To warn other jewellery retailers, Elegance Jewellers later released the CCTV footage online.
The extraordinary video has since attracted millions of views across social media, with many viewers expressing disbelief and questioning whether the incident was genuine.
The jewellers, however, insist the footage is authentic, saying they made it public to alert colleagues to increasingly unusual methods allegedly being employed by suspected jewellery thieves.
Whether motivated by love, greed or sheer opportunism, the alleged attempt has become one of the most talked-about jewellery theft stories to emerge from London’s historic diamond district in recent years.
Watch the video here.
