Zimbabwe police have reportedly removed a 29 kilogram parcel of diamonds, which has since disappeared, from the country's Central Bank at the controversial orders of Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, reports the South African Press Agency.

The missing diamonds are part of a larger collection of rough that was mined at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, which is at the center of a long-running ownership dispute between British mining company African Consolidated Resources (ACR) and the Zimbabwean government. In 2006, Zimbabwe police forced ACR off the claims in Eastern Zimbabwe, but in September 2009 a High Court judge ruled the company's forced eviction was illegal and that it was the rightful owner of the property. Geologists reportedly estimate that the diamond fields could yield more than $1 billion in diamonds annually. The government subsequently appealed the case, and, two weeks ago, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku ordered that the Chiadzwa diamonds be deposited in the Central Bank until the case was settled.

However, last week, while ACR, government and Central Bank officials were in the middle of recording the details of the diamonds before moving them to the Central Bank for safe-keeping, Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu reportedly interrupted the proceedings and produced a letter from the supreme court's registrar, Nomonde Mazabane, saying that the chief justice had suspended the September ruling and that the diamonds should not be moved to the bank, reports the South African Press Agency.

Harare's deputy sheriff refused to adhere to Mpofu's order, according to the media report, and the diamonds were transported to the Central Bank in three boxes in a security vehicle under senior police escort. Once at the bank, senior policemen received phone calls reportedly attesting to the authenticity of the registrar's letter in Mpofu's possession, and thus removed the boxes of diamonds instead of placing them in the vaults.

ACR's lawyer told the South African Press Agency that the letter from the Supreme Court registrar was illegal because court officials cannot give rulings on behalf of judges, and that this letter would mean that the court reversed the chief justice's earlier order, which is impossible, according to the lawyer.

Mpofu already raised international eyebrows by allegedly illegally awarding the Chiadzwa's mining rights to a South African scrap metal trader, Mbada, which is working in partnership with the bankrupt, state-owned ZMDC. Last month, Mbada tried to hold an auction of 300,000 carats, allegedly without notifying the Kimberley Process (KP) or its mining partner. The auction was cancelled. No diamonds are supposed to be traded from Zimbabwe until the KP has installed its monitor to actively control exports from the area, which has seen severe human rights violations in the past few years and continues to have illegal diamond diggers.