An Post management were informed and contacted gardai. The incident occurred on 28 March and gardai have yet to determine what became of the diamonds but they are satisfied that they were in the parcel when it was processed. Swiftpost is marketed by An Post as a secure means of sending mail quickly.

A garda source told the Sunday Tribune, "The packages were quite small and the top of each of them had been interfered with and the diamonds removed.

This happened before they arrived at Andrew Street Post Office where the staff noticed that something was wrong. Plenty of people would have handled the parcels before they were delivered and the fact that two packages were tampered with suggests that somebody knew what they `were looking for."

Gardai say the man the diamonds were meant for is a jeweller based in Dublin city centre and is very reputable, as was the sender. "We haven't got to the bottom of what happened yet but have interviewed a significant number of people as part of the investigation which is ongoing, " the source said.