An estimated 50,000 people visited this year's Jewellery Arabia exhibition, officials have announced.

The figures were 4,000 up on last year, with 25 per cent of those attending being from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The five-day event, which ended at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre in Sanabis yesterday, featured 600 local and world famous exhibitors from 30 countries displaying finished jewellery, luxury timepieces, precious stones, antiques and objects of art in the Middle East.

"The feedback we have had from exhibitors has been very positive and we have had a huge number of people that want to come back for Jewellery Arabia 2014," said a spokeswoman for the event.

However, she would neither confirm or deny reports that a diamond necklace valued at more than $1 million and a ring worth up to BD160,000 had been stolen during the event.

"We cannot say anything about any alleged thefts, but the event itself has been a great success and we are already looking forward to next year," she said.

Extra security measures were brought in this year, including CCTV cameras, following a string of high-profile thefts in recent years.

Italian Jeweller Gian Carlo was serving customers at his Chimento sales area just yards away when the theft is alleged to have taken place.

"I was serving customers at the time and did not see anything, it was only later that I heard what had happened," he said. "This was clearly a professional who decided to take a very big risk.

"The fact is these accidents do happen and I have been coming here for 30 years and not once had any problems." - TradeArabia News Service