Zale Corp., the Irving-based jewelry chain, has suspended sales of jewelry containing the rare blue-violet stone known as tanzanite because of its possible links to terrorism.
Zale pulled tanzanite jewelry from its stores as of Jan. 1, following its own investigation of reports that proceeds from the sales of the gemstone possibly were used to finance Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.
“This is one of the murky situations where everyone can tell you a pretty compelling story about why it isn’t true and why it is true,” said Susan Lanigan, Zale’s senior vice president and general counsel. “We have not been able to prove or disprove there is a link.”
Nevertheless, Ms. Lanigan, who personally handled the Zale investigation, said she believed that the corporation could not “comfortably” protect the Zale brand’s integrity.
Al-Qaeda’s traffic in the gemstone trade, including tanzanite, was detailed during a federal trial last year into the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Among the four bin Laden followers convicted was Wadih el Hage, a former Arlington resident who served as Mr. bin Laden’s personal secretary and testified that Mr. bin Laden’s businesses were legitimate.
The move by Zale follows a similar action taken in November by QVC Inc., a large jewelry retailer that suspended sales of tanzanite jewelry through its website, retail outlets and television network.
Zale is the nation’s largest operator of specialty jewelry stores, with more than 2,300 outlets under such names as Zales, Gordon’s Jewelers, Bailey Banks & Biddle and Piercing Pagoda.
In a note to customers at its stores, Zale also offers to take back any tanzanite products purchased from the store.
The gemstone is found only in northern Tanzania, an impoverished nation on Africa’s east coast.
Once mined, the stones make their way through a Third World labyrinth of dealers, then cutters and polishers largely based in India and Thailand. The gemstones are sold to jewelers, who supply stores.
Ms. Lanigan said she contacted 48 tanzanite vendors that sell to Zale to better understand the mining business, the extent of the gemstone smuggling, and whether the trade could be linked to the al- Qaeda network.
“I don’t think there is a clear picture of how many hands are touching tanzanite,” Ms. Lanigan said. “People are always accusing others of slipping into their stakes. It is impossible sitting here thousands of miles away to get any clear picture.”
“We don’t want to be forever out of the tanzanite business,” she said. “We hope this issue will be resolved so that we can be comfortable.”
Sales of tanzanite jewelry represent less than 1 percent of Zale’s $2.07 billion in sales in the last fiscal year.
Gem and jeweler trade associations in the United States and Tanzania have reacted harshly to reports linking the tanzanite trade to Mr. bin Laden’s terrorist network.
Defending their trade practices, the groups have said that the vast majority of exporters and dealers have no ties to terrorist organizations.
“There is no question that there is a connection,” said Cap Beesley, president of the American Gemological Laboratories in New York, which tests colored gemstones. “That came out in the embassy bombing trials.
“The point we are trying to make,” Mr. Beesley said, “is what is the extent of the connection and what [to] do about it.”
Mr. Beesley urged restraint.
He compared it to the controversy over “blood diamonds” or “conflict diamonds” in Africa where revenue from the diamond trade has been used to arm rebels with advanced weapons and enlist new soldiers in civil wars.
“Tiffany didn’t stand up and say we are not going to sell diamonds anymore,” Mr. Beesley said. “QVC didn’t stand up and say we are not going to sell diamonds, and Zale spent more on diamond advertising than ever this past Christmas season.”
The diamond industry has attempted in recent years to determine the origin of diamonds and a system for tracking their movement. No such procedures are in place for tanzanite, he said.
Before the reports of its links to terrorism, tanzanite was best known as the large jewel in the necklace tossed into the sea by the protagonist in the movie Titanic.
An Indian prospector, looking for sapphires, was led to the gems in Tanzania in 1967. Tiffany & Co. then launched a high-end marketing campaign for the gem it christened “tanzanite.”