Surat diamond merchants threaten to halt trade with China

Surat (Gujarat), Jan 21 (ANI): Upset with the detention of 21 diamond merchants by China, diamond merchants in Surat have threatened to end their Chinese operations.

The diamond merchants are determined not to do any transaction with China till the detained diamond traders are released.

Dinesh Nawadia, Secretary, Surat Diamond Association said, "Regarding the current incident that has occurred in China, the Surat Diamond Association has decided to stop trading diamonds with China until we get a positive result."

"After that we'll decide what course of action we take next," added Nawadia.

China had on January 8 detained the 21 diamond merchants mostly from Gujarat and charged them with illegally transporting the gems from Hong Kong to the south China boomtown of Shenzhen.

The arrests made by Beijing had come in the wake of three Chinese engineers detained by India in Chhattisgarh, in connection with the collapse of a chimney at metal major Bharat Aluminium Company's construction site in Korba last September.

That mishap left around 45 workers dead. (ANI)