Two persons hailing from Odishawere arrested for allegedly smuggling diamonds worth around Rs 20 lakh in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district, police said on Wednesday.As many as 125 pieces of rough diamonds were seized from their possession, they said.Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the duo on late Tuesday evening from Jadapadar village under the Mainpur police station area, Gariaband SP Bhojram Patel told PTI.On receiving inputs about two men moving in Jadapadar in search of customers to sell rough diamonds, a team of the Mainpur police swung into action, he said.The police team intercepted the suspects and recovered 125 pieces of diamonds of different sizes worth around Rs 20 lakh and a small weighing machine from their possession, Patel said.The arrested persons were identified as Jokho Ram (56) and Vikas Manjhi (25), natives of Nuapada district in neighbouring Odisha, he said, adding three mobile phones and a motorcycle were also seized from them.Prima facie, it seems they had illegally brought the diamonds from the diamond-rich belt of Gariabands Deobhog area," the SP said.Deobhog is located around 200km from the state capital Raipur.A case has been registered in this connection and further probe was underway, Patel added.
