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There were no phones, he said, so they wouldn't hear from him for at least two weeks. He had calculated that would give him enough time to get free. He planned to head to Burma and smuggle rubies.
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Best part of the story. I wonder who put this idea in his head?
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Although the timeframes don't fit for him to have been an influence, fellow Etonian Darius Guppy had a very successful operation smuggling gold from India to London in false-bottomed crates, where he sold it at a vastly higher price. He actually shifted such large quantities it affected the market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_Guppy