Irish man hospitalized in Turkey after swallowing stolen ring
MARMARİS
An x-ray scan at the hospital showed that the ring with a 2.5-carat diamond was still in Campbell’s stomach.
An Irish tourist has ended up in the hospital after he attempted to steal a diamond ring worth $40,000 by swallowing it.
Ian Campbell, who was holidaying in the southwestern Turkish province of Muğla’s Marmaris district, visited a jewelry store in the town on Oct. 4.
According to Demirören News Agency, the 54-year-old tourist grabbed an expensive ring and tried to leave the store by hiding it in his hand.
When the jeweler became suspicious and locked the door before the tourist left, Campbell quickly put the ring in his mouth and swallowed it.
The jeweler called the police but Campbell denied any wrongdoing. Security camera footage, however, showed the tourist swallowed the ring.
A prosecutor instructed the police to take the tourist to Marmaris State Hospital for surgery to remove the ring, if he could not give it back “by natural means.”
An x-ray scan at the hospital showed that the ring with a 2.5-carat diamond was still in Campbell’s intestines.
Turkish media tracked the ring's "journey" almost in real time on Oct. 4.
The man was given laxatives in the hospital and the ring was only 15 centimeters away from ejection from his bowels by the evening, according to Demirören News Agency.
The jeweler has been waiting with the man for more than 11 hours.
“I am waiting to get my ring back. I filed a criminal complaint. I cannot believe how calm he is,” the jeweler told the agency at the hospital, protesting the Irish man.
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