The allegations England’s captain had casually stolen the jewellery on the eve of the 1970 World Cup sparked a diplomatic frenzy
It remains one of the most notorious and unresolved episodes in World Cup history. Now diplomatic cables have emerged in Colombia shedding fresh light on the diplomatic frenzy caused by the arrest of Bobby Moore, then captain of the reigning champions, England, days before the start of the 1970 tournament in Mexico.
The previously unseen documents show how Moore’s trip to the Fuego Verde jewellery shop in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, sparked a desperate campaign from the British Foreign Office to free the West Ham centre-back. The enormous pressure exerted on Colombia by the Foreign Office may have swayed the judge’s decision in the case, a new podcast series El Capitán y el Brazalete de Esmeraldas (The Captain and the Emerald Bracelet) concluded.
