 Danes was the managing director of Lao Securicor, a security company in charge of shipping gems for GML.In December 1999, the Lao government had ordered GML to suspend exports of all raw and semi-finished sapphire products.On 23 December 2000, Kerry Danes (aged 42) was seized in his Vientiane office by Lao secret police on suspicion of involvement in the theft of over $US6 million worth of sapphires and cash from a gem mine that he had been hired to secure.