‘Diamonds’ found on beach are fakes

Police in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) have urged people not to believe rumors that a suburban beach is awash with diamonds, the BBC reports.

Hundreds of people had descended on the popular Juhu beach since the rumors started on Saturday, some scouring sand through the night by torchlight. But police said the “gems” were just glass or stones.

One man drowned there a few days ago, the BBC reports. Witnesses said he was one of the diamond hunters but police denied this.

A senior police officer, Amitabh Gupta, told the BBC the so-called diamonds found by fortune hunters were worthless.

However, the BBC reports that some people have managed to sell them to gullible tourists.

Local jewelers have confirmed the stones are not diamonds.

Juhu beach is one of the most popular in Bombay and is visited by hundreds of tourists from across India every day.

“We heard people found diamonds on the beach,” Dhruv, a 15-year-old newspaper seller, told the Reuters news agency. “So I came here with my friends and we have found more than 50 diamonds which we managed to sell.”

Some reports said the “gems” had gotten up to 1,500 rupees ($34).

Some of the hunters reportedly believed the “gems” were loot that was lost in the Arabian sea.

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