Britain jails sixties jewelry thief who swapped gems for pebbles

A jewelry thief has been sentenced to more than five years in prison in Britain for stealing pieces worth millions of pounds by placing pebbles in place of gemstones.

In the details, a French woman stole a set of diamond jewelry, worth about $5.8 million, from a jewelry store in London in March 2016.

After the woman examined these pieces, which were in a bag, she carried it and put it in her wallet, and the seller told her that she could not take it until after she had paid for it, so the French woman apologized and returned the bag to the seller.

But the next day, store officials discovered that the woman had deceived them and replaced the bag with another, and left the store with jewelry worth $ 5.8 million, according to French police, and left in the bag that was returned a group of worthless pebbles.

After years of investigation, the French police were able to identify the thief as Lulu Lakatos, now 60 years old, a member of a global criminal organization.

She is from the Saint-Bresse region in northwestern France.

The French police managed to arrest her and hand her over to the British authorities, who accused her of theft and sentenced her to five and a half years in prison.

"It's a bold theft of professional people," said British officer William Mann of the British International Police.

This bold plan in theft and execution reveals that the criminals who carried it out were very professional.” He added that Lakatos played a key role in the theft, but there were those who helped her, as the International Police arrested two men involved in the theft.

The gang members, who pretended to be accomplices of a Russian investor, had met several weeks before the robbery on March 10, 2016, several times at the Boodles jewelry store that was robbed.

It was agreed with him to meet Lakatos and described her as a jewelry expert who works with the investor.

Police said Lakatos arrived in London before the robbery and checked into a hotel, then met up with two men from the gang to prepare to meet Poodles.

The next day she went to Boodles and introduced herself there as Anna.

She was not alone, as the surveillance cameras revealed the presence of four gang members standing outside the store, where there were two women in addition to the two men she had met before.

She told the staff after introducing herself that she did not speak English well, which is part of the plan, police said.

One of the workers in the store took her to a room inside the store and offered her diamond cuts. After examining her, she returned them to the bag in which they were located and put the bag in her bag.

But the worker told her that the diamonds would remain in the store until they were paid for, so she apologized, citing her poor language, and returned the bag to the worker.

The police said that during these moments they had returned another bag containing seven ordinary "pebble" stones.

After that, Lakatos came out of the store and the two men and women were waiting for her. She gave them the bag containing the diamonds and got into a taxi. She took her to Victoria Station, and from there she took the train and got out of the country, according to the police.

The next day, Boodles' jewelry store discovered the theft.

Immediately, the International Police investigated this theft and was able to solve it and identify the perpetrators.

Although she convicted Lakatos and is now in prison, she is still investigating the case, hoping to discover more people involved.

CCTV footage showed the moment Lakatos swapped her purse from her purse, using what the court called a "sleight of hand."

Her accomplices, Kristof Stankovic and Michael Yovanovic, were sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to rob.

A jewelry thief has been sentenced to more than five years in prison in Britain for stealing pieces worth millions of pounds by placing pebbles in place of gemstones.

Lulu Lakatos, 60, impersonated a gemologist under the pseudonym "Anna" to obtain the jewels, which were valued at a total of 4.2 million pounds ($5.8 million).

She claimed that a wealthy Russian customer sent her to straighten the jewelry before replacing it with worthless stones.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court in south London found her guilty of conspiracy to rob.

The judge described the theft as "complicated and very daring" and involved "shameless deception."

Prosecutors said the theft of the seven diamonds, including one worth £2.2m, which belonged to a luxury family jewelry business in London's posh Mayfair district, was the largest of its kind ever in Britain.

The actual diamonds, which the London police said were stolen by Lakatos in cooperation with an international organized gang, have not been recovered after the theft, which occurred in March 2016.

Roman-born Lakatos from Saint-Brieuc in northwest France arrived in London the day before the robbery, where she met two other members of the gang.

The trio then took an expedition to Boodles Jewelery's on Bond Street in Mayfair.

On the day of the theft, Lakatos examined the diamonds, trimmed them, wrapped them in tissues and placed them in boxes in a locked bag.

CCTV footage showed the moment Lakatos swapped her purse from her purse, using what the court called a "sleight of hand."

Lakatos' conviction came after her arrest in France on the basis of a European arrest warrant.

Her accomplices, Kristof Stankovic and Michael Yovanovic, were sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to rob.

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