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Russian court sentences Colombian who stole $2 mln worth of diamonds to 5 years

According to the investigation, Alejandro Valero stole a briefcase, which contained jewelry with a total value of 160 million rubles

KAZAN, December 13. /TASS/. A Kazan court sentenced a Colombian citizen to five years in prison for stealing diamonds during the 2018 FIFA World Cup stage in the city, Tatarstan Ministry of the Interior announced Monday.

"The Privolzhsky district court of Kazan sentenced a 42-year old citizen of Colombia, who committed the theft during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with damages of over 160 million rubles ($2,177,600 - TASS). The court sentenced him to five years of imprisonment," the Ministry said.

According to the investigation, the 42-year old Colombian named Alejandro Valero stole a briefcase of a Seven Diamonds employee, which contained jewelry with a total value of 160 million rubles, at an expo. The thief was apprehended in Argentina in 2019.

Later, Valero admitted that he buried the jewelry in the woods in Kazan. He was unable to precisely point to the location of the cache, so the police had to survey a rather large area. The survey unearthed a total of four bags of jewelry that was immediately returned to the owner.