Junaid Hassan, 28, who runs the family business says they didn’t spot the princess cut diamond ring being taken, and had to watch their CCTV to figure out what happened
CCTV captured the moment a man swallowed a £35,000 engagement ring – in an alleged bid to steal it.
Staff at Elegance Jewellers said they were left in shock when one of three engagement rings they were showing a man seemingly disappeared.
Junaid Hassan, 28, who runs the family business says they didn’t spot the princess cut diamond ring being taken, and had to watch their CCTV to figure out what happened. The footage shows the customer picking up the ring and swiftly putting it in his mouth before he allegedly swallows it and tries to leave.
Once staff at the store in Hatton Garden, central London confronted the shopper about the unusual tactic, they claim he put his fingers down his throat and brought the ring back up to return it.
Junaid said: “It was really crazy. I still can’t believe that it happened. You never know who you are sitting in front of. We just happened to catch him. You don’t know where else he has been that people just haven’t noticed. It was absolutely insane.
“We have been in Hatton Garden for three generations and we have never seen anyone swallow a ring before. I can’t even take paracetamol without water I don’t know how he did it. It could have scratched his insides. He was talking normally you couldn’t even tell it was in there.”
Junaid says it was his dad Syed Hussan who served the customer in June 2025.
Syed, 58, says the man walked in at closing time and spent two hours looking at various rings, before he tried to leave stating he would come back the next day with a decision.
When he noticed the ring was missing and asked for it back, the owner claims the customer started shouting – asking them to check his pockets.
Due to the swiftness of the swallow, Syed says it took several watches of the CCTV to spot what happened. After he regurgitated the ring, security escorted the man out of the shop, and staff are unsure what happened to him next.
The engagement ring had a large princess cut diamond, along with several other smaller diamonds along the platinum band – bringing it to a value of around £35,000.
Syed said: “I asked him nicely to give it back and he started screaming and shouting. We had to watch the CCTV three times before we realised he swallowed it. It was so quick. I said that he couldn’t leave and he calmed down knowing that we knew.
“This was the first time I had seen anything like this, so it is lucky that I caught him.”
Their shop has been in Hatton Garden, the heart of London’s jewellery trade, for over 30 years with three generations of their family working there.
They believe the customer must have been a professional, claiming he even had a friend saved on his phone as 999 to speak with staff and tell them to let him go.
Junaid says he decided to post the video on social media this month for awareness, and it has since gained millions of views. He added: “I didn’t believe it when my dad told me. It is such a funny moment because what do you even say in that situation. What kind of person swallows a ring.
“He must have been a professional. We asked him to give it back and he gagged it out. He literally put his fingers down his throat and retched it out.
“People on social media think we staged it. I didn’t expect it to do that well. We just posted it to raise awareness that this happens in jewellery shops.”
Junaid said that they called police on the day, but it was security who ended up dealing with the situation.
