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Show Diamond Smuggling Costly Pasttime Diamond smuggling is a' problem prob-lem which has given custom officials of-ficials some concern for many years. In 1951, they confiscated about ten thousand carats of dia- , monds valued at $3,000,000, according ac-cording to George Fine, president of the Diamond Manufacturers and Importers Association of America, Inc. The apprehension of smugglers has increased as a result of the reward of twenty-five per cent of the value of the gems discovered now offered by the Government. It is believed in some quarters that if the Belgian Government offered a similar reward, smuggling would substantially decrease. It should be pointed out that every time diamonds enter this country through illicit channels, some European country loses dollar dol-lar exchange. And, of course, loss of American currency keeps European Eu-ropean purchasers of our goods at a low level, making them more de-' de-' pendent on our aid and slowing down defense production. Every effort should be made to stop the diamond smuggling, not only because be-cause of the large amount of money involved but because of the adverse effects on world trade. |