Martin Kambanda pleaded guilty before Magistrate Hosea Noabeb in the Keetmanshoop Regional Court. He admitted he was caught stealing six diamonds, weighing 30,3 carats and valued at some N$372 588, at Oranjemund on March 14.

Kambanda was employed as a driver with a company doing work at the mine. When he left the mine on March 14 he passed through an X-ray machine, and security officers decided that he had to be body-searched.

After they felt a foreign object between his legs, he produced a small metal cup from his pants. Inside was a parcel with the six rough gems.

In addition to the fine or prison term, Magistrate Noabeb sentenced Kambanda to a four-year jail term suspended in full for five years on condition he is not convicted of the same offence during that time.

Kambanda paid N$30 000 of the fine last Tuesday. The rest of the fine may be paid off in monthly instalments of N$5 000.

Kambanda was represented by John Walters. Ingrid Bampton-Cupido prosecuted.

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