Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 04/02) - More than $34 billion in diamonds lie underneath the Northwest Territories. It's far too lucrative a target for thieves to be left unprotected. To that end, the RCMP have created a new Diamond Protection Service, the first of its kind of in Canada.

The three-member service was established last November, in response to growing concerns about the possibility of criminal infiltration of Canada's diamond industry.

"Organized crime is a big problem in Canada, and it's starting to take an interest in diamonds now," said Sgt. Ray Halwas, who heads up the Diamond Protection Service.

Halwas is joined by Cpl. Les Bancroft and Const. Darrell Robertson, both 20-year RCMP veterans and longtime northerners. Bancroft and Robertson's positions are newly created, and not the result of reallocations from other departments.

"We have not been redeployed, these are new positions," said Halwas, adding that the department hasn't been, "created at the expense of other departments."

Halwas said that criminals have many opportunities to infiltrate the diamond industry, either through theft, smuggling, undervaluing for tax purposes, or misrepresenting the country of a diamond's origin.

Because of their high value and light weight, diamonds are easily smuggled.

"Customs officials will tell you that unless they know someone is smuggling diamonds, they're not going to find them," said Halwas.

The Diamond Protection Service is currently working "pro-actively" on 21 files.

Halwas said his unit will "work closely" with diamond companies and the public.