Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) has recovered approximately NAD 40.6 million ($2.2 million) worth of the NAD 314.9 million ($17.2 million) in diamonds that a group of armed robbers stole in January.
The Namibian government-owned sales-and-marketing company is “hopeful” that it will recover more of the goods as police continue to investigate, it said last week. Two of the four suspects were arrested and are scheduled to appear in court in May.
Namdia has also strengthened its security to prevent any recurrences of the incident, including measures it put into place directly after the robbery and some that are still in progress, it explained.
Additionally the company has repaired some of the damage it incurred during the event, so its employees were able to return to the office last week. Staff had been working remotely since the robbery took place.
The firm is still holding an internal probe of the situation and has appointed a security consultant to oversee the department and make critical enhancements. Namdia’s former security chief was killed trying to protect the site during the robbery.
Meanwhile, the company has temporarily suspended executive staff, including its security manager, in order to conduct an impartial investigation — though it does not believe that any employees besides one security officer, who has been arrested, were involved in the robbery, it said.
Image: A rough diamond. (Namib Desert Diamonds)
