Hi-tech dye will mark diamond thieves for months

DIAMOND thieves soaked with a DNA-like spray during a £150,000 (€224,313) heist will be stained for months, they were warned yesterday.

The armed robbers were covered with a state-of-the-art security mist as they seized 60 platinum rings studded with gems from a Belfast shop.

As detectives hunted the gang behind the lightning-quick raid, it emerged the chemically-enhanced liquid used to coat them has a 100% conviction rate.

Martin Watt, owner of Malcolm’s Jewellers, where the thieves struck, said: “All police have to do is shine an ultraviolet light on it and it will tie them to the scene.”

Three men carried out the robbery in south Belfast’s exclusive Lisburn Road yesterday.

One of the raiders held a gun to a staff member’s head while the other two smashed display cases open.

The rings were taken in an operation timed at under 90 seconds. But before the thieves escaped, staff activated the sprinkler system.

Canisters filled with a liquid giving a DNA-type reading unique to the store showered the gang.

SmartWater Technologies, the West Midlands-based manufacturer, claimed the men cannot deny involvement if caught. Chief executive Phil Cleary said: “This stuff will stay on the skin for six to eight weeks and on their clothes indefinitely.

“It glows under ultraviolet light and can be broken down so that a millimetre of hair would be enough to give an analysis.”

More than 400 convictions have been secured using SmartWater, he said.