Surat, 7 December 2011

As per the detail available through the Surat Diamond Association, China’s Shenzhen court has today ordered release of 13 Gujarati diamond traders from jail. The court has ordered one year prison to seven diamond traders, while two other traders will be released in two-three months due to their good conduct and also because of the fact that they have already completed their jail term.

These diamond traders are in jail in China for nearly two years. The traders, who belong to Surat and Mumbai, were arrested in January 2010.

President of Surat Diamond Association thanked Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his efforts in ensuring release of diamond traders.

Mr Modi visited China last month. He reportedly discussed the jailed traders with the officials he met there. “The Chinese leadership has attached great importance to the visit of Shri Narendra Modi and was keen to make the visit a grand success. During the high level meetings, it is understood that top Chinese leadership promised the Chief Minister to take up the matter on priority,” his government said in a statement.

The diamond traders were arrested by Shenzhen customs officials for allegedly smuggling diamonds from Hong Kong to China on January 8, 2010. Shenzhen is a major city in China’s Guangdong province close to Hong Kong.

A list of 21 diamond traders jailed in China

1. Dharmaveer Patel, Surat
2. Parth Shah, Surat
3. Amit Soni, Surat
4. Sameer Shah, Surat
5. Prateek Parikh, Surat
6. Viral Shah, Surat
7. Pritesh Doshi, Surat-Mumbai
8. Rajesh Jain, Surat-Mumbai
9. Amit Jogani, Surat-Mumbai
10. Shripal Parikh, Palanpur-Mumbai
11. Ankit Shah, Palanpur-Mumbai
12. Dhaval Shah, Palanpur-Mumbai
13. Girish Shah, Palanpur-Mumbai
14. Shrenik Parikh, Palanpur-Mumbai
15. Jigar Mehta, Palanpur-Mumbai
16. Nishith Shah
17. Vipul Patel, Palanpur-Mumbai
18. Vishal Mehta, Palanpur-Mumbai
19. Rajkumar Bhogilal, Mumbai
20. Praful, Mumbai
21. Mittal, Mumbai