Written by Swikblog News Desk
Even by James Bond standards, this jewel-smuggling plot is a bit much. New Zealand police say they have finally recovered a limited-edition Fabergé egg pendant inspired by the 1983 Bond film Octopussy — six days after a suspect allegedly swallowed the NZ$33,000 (about US$19,000) piece in an Auckland jewellery store.
According to a report in The Guardian , officers spent nearly a week “monitoring every bowel movement” of a 32-year-old man accused of eating the pendant at Partridge Jewellers in central Auckland. On Thursday night, nature finally cooperated: the pendant was recovered from his gastrointestinal tract “by natural means”, with no medical intervention required.
The alleged heist took place on 28 November, when the man is said to have picked up the Fabergé x 007 Octopussy egg pendant, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it whole. Staff called police, who arrested him inside the store minutes later, but the star of the show — the pendant itself — had already embarked on a slow, uncomfortable journey through the suspect’s digestive system.
A spokesperson said the pendant, valued at around NZ$33,000, was eventually recovered intact, still attached to its gold chain and price tag. The man remains in custody and is due to appear in Auckland District Court on 8 December on a theft charge. He reportedly did not enter a plea at his first appearance on 29 November.
The pendant is no ordinary trinket. It is part of a limited run of Fabergé x 007 pieces, with only 50 made worldwide. Crafted in gold, decorated with green enamel and encrusted with diamonds and sapphires, it opens to reveal a tiny golden octopus inside — a nod to the jewel-smuggling plot at the heart of Octopussy. In other words, it was designed to be a tribute to fictional smuggling, not a how-to manual.
In a week already filled with strange New Zealand headlines — including a chemical mix-up at a Christchurch childcare that sent children to hospital — this Bond-themed bowel stakeout still manages to stand out. It has all the elements of a franchise reboot: a luxury jewel, an audacious theft, and a very patient police watch that was less “high-speed chase” and more “gastrointestinal live blog”.
New Zealand police said officers were assigned around the clock to keep an eye on the suspect and ensure the evidence was safely retrieved. Given that the man was in custody, they also had a duty of care to monitor his health as the pendant slowly passed through his system, according to statements previously reported by the Associated Press.
For the store, the recovery is a relief: the pendant is a high-profile collector’s item and a marketing jewel in its own right. For Fabergé and the Bond brand, it’s an unplanned but on-brand reminder that their collaboration is still capable of generating plotlines wild enough to make it into global headlines — and probably a few late-night monologues.
For everyone else, the case is a cautionary tale. Swallowing a luxury pendant to escape a theft charge is not only a terrible medical idea, it also turns the rest of your week into a very awkward police-coordinated waiting game. As nature has now conclusively demonstrated, this was one Bond-inspired mission that was never going to end well for the alleged thief.
Not the First Time: The Strange Global Tradition of Swallowing Stolen Jewels
As bizarre as this week’s Auckland “Bond bowel stakeout” sounds, it is far from the first time someone has tried to smuggle stolen treasure through the digestive system. In Sri Lanka in 2012, a visitor to a gem exhibition famously swallowed a 1.5-carat diamond in full view of security cameras, forcing police into a similar multi-day waiting game. South Africa, Brazil and even Florida have all recorded cases where thieves gulped down gold chains, rings or loose diamonds to escape arrest — usually with very little success.
Thailand once saw a thief swallow a six-carat diamond worth more than £200,000, while Indian airport officers detained a man who had ingested 87 small gold bars in a single journey. Compared to those, New Zealand’s $19,000 Octopussy pendant may rank as one of the more glamorous pieces of evidence to ever re-emerge “by natural means”.
What Happens to a $19,000 Pendant After a Journey Like This?
Jewellery experts say pieces recovered “by natural means” go through an intensive decontamination and authentication process before insurers decide whether they can ever be resold. In many cases, the item becomes a quirky collector’s piece — valued not for purity, but for the extraordinarily strange story attached to it.
Police say both the pendant and the accused man remain in custody. If nothing else, the case has already secured its place in New Zealand’s long list of “you couldn’t make this up” crime stories.
