Tomorrow, the new Jewellery Bill will be introduced at the National Assembly. This remoulding of the law aims at extending regulations to control the manufacture and sale of jewellery, precious metals and their alloys as well as the verification and grading of precious and semi-precious stones. But, while these efforts are made, jewels remain at the centre of an alleged network of dealers who operate from stolen articles.

First, some facts: in the last days of April, Latif Wani and his wife lived a nightmare in the time span of a single week: their Flic-en-Flac house was ?visited? twice by thieves who went with all their jewels without any apparent witness. Though they had made a statement, the police could not prevent the burglars from coming back.

In Albion, that same week a German couple had a similar misfortune: two subsequent ?visits?, except that, the first time, the couple was lucky enough to surprise the thieves, who wanted to steal their car. The second time, they did not have that chance. ?We were told at the police that these are experts and habitual offenders. That they are known. So, why is it so difficult to trace them?? protests G.

Part of the truth seemed to emerge from our enquiry as we found no clear figures at national level about the number of cases of theft over the past months. Not to mention the detailed figures. ?Thefts are not classified?, declares a reliable source. The only statistics we found were from an annual police report dating from? 2001, the most recent registered at the National Library! One question, is this irrelevance voluntary?

Full and true record

On the field, policemen, who don?t want to reveal their identity, complain and express their discouragement when dealing with limited means in front of a singular rise in the number of thefts. ?Of some 15 cases, I have to report, about two-thirds are related to theft?, says a first constable. His colleague adds: ?The traffic of stolen jewels is closely linked to drug trafficking. When cases are reported, jewellers who accept to buy jewels without their original receipt are systematically investigated. Some have several cases against them. But how to trace gold which can be melted into other jewels. There is some complicity too from corrupt policemen.?

Things don?t get easier when, according to tradition and, for obvious reasons, jewels are not given with their receipts. ?In Mauritius people usually exchange old family jewels for new ones?, explains a jeweller in central Port-Louis. He too, wants to remain anonymous, when he tells about a police case he was involved in. ?I felt pity for a woman who pretended to sell her necklace because of her husband?s illness. She had no receipt. My own father had just died from the same form of cancer and I made an exception. A few days after, I was confronted to her by the CID. She was in fact a well- known recidivist.? In front of those risks, other jewellers, like Taj, in Port-Louis, refuse to buy jewels.

But who is to be blamed when, according to the law, past and present, the presentation of a receipt is not compulsory even from the reseller. It is just stipulated that resale of jewels has to be duly registered and the seller has to present an identity card with his full address. ?Controls are undertaken through the Assay office.? The law stands that every dealer has to make a full and true record of every transaction he makes in relation to jewellery. And he has to issue a serially numbered receipt of each purchase, sale or supply to another dealer of jewellery or each item received for remanufacture or repair. So, is there really hope that with time, every attempt at trafficking will become traceable? ?The enquiry for stolen jewels is the matter of the police?, we were told by a reliable source from the Assay Office.

Meanwhile, those who benefit from the lack of control and the unease among the police, seem to be out of reach. ?We believe that the stolen jewels are being exported?, says one policeman. While a jeweller thinks they are just kept by some drug dealers, who ?are also famed for their addiction to jewels?. At the despair of those who have lost forever their most precious belongings.