Debmarine Namibia: diamond theft suspects plead not guilty

Debmarine Namibia, a joint venture between De Beers and the Namibian government, nearly lost 453 pieces of unpolished diamonds from its Debmar Atlantic vessel in November 2011. 
The rough stones had a combined weight of 668.26 carats and were valued at N$6.2 million at the time.
The suspects, Emmanuel Shikololo and Rodney Klim, recently appeared in the Windhoek High Court where they pleaded not guilty to all charges.
New Era reports that the two are facing one count of theft of unpolished diamonds or possession of unpolished diamonds and one count of conspiracy to commit an offence. 
Shikololo and Klim were employed as plant hand and process controller, respectively. 
The prosecution alleged that the two hatched a plan, where they lobbied security officer Dawid Jarvis on the vessel to allow them to smuggle the diamonds they intended to steal, the indictment reads. 
They travelled to Cape Town in October 2011 together with Jarvis to meet a potential buyer of the stolen diamonds. 
It is alleged that the accused blocked the vacuum air transfer unit on the vessel that caused the vacuum pressure to increase to above normal levels, which needed a manual intervention to empty the pipe. 
Shikololo then entered the recovery plant ostensibly to unblock the airlifts and he allegedly picked up the diamonds. 
The prosecution alleged that on 6 November 2011, Shikololo called Jarvis to the forward stores, where he handed him a yellow bag containing the unpolished diamonds for him to smuggle them out of the vessel and deliver them to the buyer in Cape Town. 
Unknown to Shikololo, he was under surveillance from security personnel who had installed secret cameras.
He was arrested soon after the handover. 
Jarvis was in court as a state witness. 

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished