HARARE – Zimbabwe’s minerals marketing authority on Tuesday shelved plans to transport 300 000 carats of diamonds to the central bank after armed robbers raided the offices of one of the firms involved in a dispute over ownership of the gems, officials said.

The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) – the sole marketing and selling agent of all minerals produced in the country – was last week ordered by the Supreme Court to take the diamonds at the centre of an ownership dispute between British owned firm African Consolidated Resources (ACR) and Mbada Diamonds to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for safe keeping.

But the transportation was aborted after the armed robbers, who officials suspect had information about the planned movement of the diamonds, raided ACR offices.

"There was an apparent security breach at ACR today. We suspect the raid has to do with the intended transportation of diamonds from our offices to the RBZ as per the Supreme Court ruling," an MMCZ official told ZimOnline.

A senior official who was part of the team that was supposed to see the handing over of the diamonds confirmed the incident.

"ACR security staff were beaten, and their offices were raided by thieves in town," an official close to ACR and the central bank said, adding; "We shelved the plans for security reasons, ACR is going to issue a full statement on what transpired . . . the transportation of the diamonds which was meant to take place to the RBZ has been shelved."

Sources in the diamond industry expressed shock at the incident and have called for the beefing up of security within the industry.

"There has been to much publicity over the Chiadzwa diamonds and their transportation and this is causing troubles for us in the industry," said a source from the industry.

There was no immediate comment from the police.

The decision to transport the diamonds to the central bank follows a legal ownership dispute between ACR and Mbada Diamonds – a joint venture formed last year by the government’s Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and Grandwell of South Africa to mine diamonds at Chiadzwa after Harare ejected ACR from the controversial fields.

Last month the Zimbabwe government cancelled a planned diamond auction of the 300 000 carats by Mbada, saying no gems from the controversial field could be sold without certification by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). 

ACR, which holds right of title to claims on the Chiadzwa diamond field – also known as Marange – has warned international diamond traders against buying the Chiadzwa gems saying they are “stolen”.

Chiadzwa is one of the world’s most controversial diamond fields with reports that soldiers sent to guard the claims after the government took over the field in October 2006 from ACR committed gross human rights abuses against illegal miners who had descended on the field.