One of the stranger stories in recent days comes to us from New Zealand, where a thief entered an Auckland jewelry store and stole a valuable Fabergé pendant. He employed a novel way to sneak the shiny object out of the store.
New Zealand Police said Friday they have recovered a James Bond-inspired Fabergé pendant after six days of closely watching the man accused of swallowing the jewelry in an Auckland store.
They said the pendant was recovered Thursday night after it exited the suspect’s gastrointestinal tract naturally without medical intervention.
That puts a whole new spin on the saying, "This, too, shall pass." It's just as well that the human alimentary canal isn't under voluntary control. What goes in, must come out, and jeweled pendants, no matter how valuable, have no nutritional value and cannot be digested.
The results, therefore, were predictable.
The limited-edition, Fabergé egg pendant was inspired by the 1983 James Bond film “Octopussy,” in which a jewel-smuggling operation involves a fake Fabergé egg.
A less glamorous photo supplied by New Zealand’s police Friday showed a gloved hand holding the recovered pendant and its long, gold chain with an intact price tag showing the jewelry’s 33,000 New Zealand dollar ($19,000) value.
No, I'm not going to look for that photo. All you readers are welcome to employ your imaginations, and I'm confident you'll get a pretty good idea what that looked like.
The man was arrested inside Partridge Jewelers in Auckland on Nov. 28 shortly after the alleged theft.
He made a court appearance Nov. 29, when he didn’t enter a plea to a charge of theft. Since then, he’s been in police custody and officers had been stationed round the clock with the man to wait for the evidence to reemerge.
The 32-year-old man has not been publicly named. He is due to appear in Auckland District Court on Monday and will remain in police custody until then.
In the ranks of New Zealand jewel thieves, this guy can't possibly be in the top ten. It's a sure thing that he's not Number Two.
Read More: Looting at the Louvre: Thieves Run Brazen Pink Panther-Style Heist, Haul Off Priceless Gems and Art
According to the jewelry store that was robbed via this off-label use of a digestive tract, the pendant in question is modeled to look like the famous Fabergé egg. It is one of 50 made, crafted from gold, with green enamel and 183 diamonds and two sapphires. It's a tad over 3 inches tall, and opens to show an 18-carat yellow gold octopus inside. The octopus is in honor of a piece central to the plot of the James Bond movie, Octopussy.
There's no mention as to how easy it was for the felon to pass this item. One would think that 183 diamonds would have a, well, abrasive effect, one that might make the morning after a meal of fiery-hot Tex-Mex seem tame by comparison.
Can you get Tex-Mex in Auckland?
In any case, all's well that ends well. The hungry crook is behind bars, and the jewelry store has recovered its property - even if it does need a round in the cleaning tank.
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