Smugglers' gems fetch pounds 1m

A SALE of diamonds confiscated from an admitted multimillionaire marijuana smuggler fetched a total of $1.9m (pounds 1.18m) at a two-day auction at Christie's, nearly four times the pre-sale estimate. The United States Customs Service confiscated the 33 diamonds in 1995 from Stephen Jenks. He pleaded guilty to running a marijuana smuggling ring primarily from Colombia to his waterside home south of St Petersburg, Florida.

- Reuters, New York