Nordine Herrina has become the most recent addition to Jewelers’ Security Alliance’s “Most Wanted” list. The Palm Beach (FL) Police Department has obtained a warrant for the arrest of Herrina in connection with the distraction theft of two diamond rings, valued at $1.5 million, from a retail jewelry store.

Herrina is the 11th person to be placed on JSA’s Most Wanted list.

The robbery occurred April 13, 2001, at the Diamant Noir jewelry store, formerly located in the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, the Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported.

Herrina, reports say, “palmed” the rings while making it appear as though he was placing them into a ring box. He was aided by an unidentified accomplice, described as a white female, about 26 years of age with blond hair. This couple are always well-dressed, and are suspected by police of being part of a gang of international jewel thieves, operating since the early 1990s, who pose as members of the Saudi Royal Family. They have used business cards bearing the name “Al Soud Saad,” and confuse their victims by rewarding sales associates with hundred dollar bills for minor acts of courtesy.

“The identification of the suspect took a long time, John J. Kennedy, JSA president, told JCK. “And part of the investigation will try to determine whether this person is, indeed, part of an international gang that has been committing many, many crimes all over the world by impersonating Saudi royal families.” For more information, go to the JSA Web site at www.jewelerssecurity.org.

Other new items on JSA’s Web site include a detailed account of robberies against the industry for the month of January, including information on a retail jewelry robbery in Plano, Texas, Jan. 24, and a traveling salesperson’s loss in Chicago on Jan. 21.

JCK