International Diamond Security Organisation
 International Diamond Security Organisation  | |
|---|---|
| Founder |  Sir Percy Sillitoe |
| Owners | De Beers |
The International Diamond Security Organisation (IDSO) was set up in 1953 by Sir Percy Sillitoe at the behest of De Beers to tackle diamond smuggling, using ambushes, death squads and torture. Based in South Africa, Sillitoe's IDSO commissioned a private army to penetrate and topple the “million-carat network”―the world’s most notorious diamond smuggling ring.[1]
When IDSO's operation was complete, the Sunday Times gave the story to Ian Fleming, who had impressed Sillitoe with his earlier Bond adventure "Diamonds Are Forever". Fleming was contacted by an IDSO agent, John Collard, whom he met in Morocco. The result of their conversations was a series of newspaper articles about the "million carat network", a book, "The Diamond Smugglers", and the James Bond novel "Diamonds are Forever" (1956).[2]
Successor
IDSO was considered by many to be the forerunner of South Africa's notorious Bureau of State Security.
Employee on Wikispooks
| Employee | Job | Appointed | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Collard | Spook | 1953 | 1957 |
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:De Beers to abandon cartel | Article | 30 May 2000 | Dan Atkinson | De Beers hit a high point in profit terms in the boom year 1989-90, but the following decade was to cost its shareholders billions of dollars. The break-up of the Soviet Union brought a flood of illicit diamonds on to the market, as did the civil war in Angola. In abandoning the CSO diamond cartel, Managing Director Gary Ralfe hopes to use De Beers' dominant position to persuade everyone in the industry to spend much more on marketing. |
