Two men from Peru have received relatively lengthy prison terms by Norwegian standards, after being convicted of stealing the crown jewels from the king of Ashanti in Ghana when he was in Oslo last fall.
The Oslo City Court (Oslo Tingrett) sentenced one of the men, aged 44, to prison for a year and six months on Wednesday. His accomplice, aged 41, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.
A third suspect in the case, a 57-year-old woman, is also being held in remand custody in Peru while Norwegian police await her extradition to stand trial in Norway.
The sensational jewel theft was carried out in the lobby of the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in downtown Oslo, while King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II was checking in last October. He was in Oslo to appear at a conference to promote business between Norway and African countries, and had his inherited jewels with him.
Photos from the hotel’s surveillance cameras helped police track down the thieves, and one of the men was arrested at Stockholm’s airport just a week later. Only some of the golden crown jewels, however, have been recovered.
newsinenglish.no staff
