Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe HONG KONG, March 7 (UPI) -- Hong Kong's annual jewelry show, which opened Monday, has attracted an elite clientele including at least 100 international jewel thieves, police say. Nine South American men were arrested in connection with four separate thefts within a week, including four on the opening day of the Hong Kong International Jewelry Show, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday. Advertisement Crime syndicates from Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela were active both inside and outside the show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, a police source told the newspaper. He said the thieves wore suits and worked in groups of three or four. Thieves target exhibitors as they move packages of diamonds, pearls and other valuables from their hotels to the site of the show, or look for prey in hotel lobbies or coffee shops. They steal unattended briefcases and bags while victims are eating in coffee shops or restaurants, sometimes distracting their target by spraying tomato sauce on their clothing or dropping bundles of banknotes on the ground before grabbing valuables and fleeing, the police source said. As of Tuesday, no thefts had been reported inside the jewelry fair. Advertisement
