PACIFIC JEWEL THEFT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 33, 4 October 1946, Page 3

PACIFIC JEWEL THEFT

TREASURE APPROPRIATED BY JAPANESE PALES HESSE CROWN JEWELS British special agents have recovered a 6,000,000 dollar cache of gold, currency, and jewels—including “diamonds as big as your thumbnail”—stolen in a fabulous East Indian theft which is described as “far bigger than the theft of the Hesse crown jewels.” A high official said the treasure was privately owned property appropriated by the Japanese during the occupation of the East Indies, later recovered by Allied authorities and then stolen. This official, who declined to permit the use of his name, said a Batavia, Java, ring composed of British, Dutch and Japanese nationals had been smashed. He said that several, “high-ranking officers” might be involved before the investigation of the thefts is completed.

A British Headquarters spokesman confirmed, that an officer and a sergeant had been arested in Batavia and said “there is considerable truth in press reports from Java.” The Batavia correspondent of the London Daily Mail said that a Japanese cache of 28,000,000 dollars worth of gold, jewels and cash had been taken and that a Eurasian girl, named Carla Wolff, several Dutchmen, and Chinese also were being held.

When the Japanese capitulated, Japanese and Indonesians buried the treasure, but distributed a considerable portion to those who knew of its existence, in return for a promise of secrecy.