John Collard
| John Collard (Solicitor, spook) | |
|---|---|
| File:John Collard.jpg | |
| Born | John Ambrose Collard 1 January 1913 Whitechapel, London |
| Died | 23 July 2002 Rye, Sussex |
| Alma mater | Keble College (Oxford) |
MI5 operative who went on to become an agent of the International Diamond Security Organisation | |
John Collard was a British solicitor and MI5 operative who went on to become an agent of the International Diamond Security Organisation (IDSO) which was set up to tackle diamond smuggling, using ambushes, death squads and torture.[1]
Using the alias "John Blaize", Collard contacted Ian Fleming and met him in Morocco to reveal how IDSO had infiltrated and toppled the “million-carat network”―the world’s most notorious diamond smuggling ring.
The result of their conversations was a series of newspaper articles about the "million carat network", a book, "The Diamond Smugglers", and the James Bond novel "Diamonds are Forever" (1956).[2]