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At last, truth about Naomi’s blood diamonds

‘DIRTY’ ICE: The “dirty-looking stones” that a warlord gave to model Naomi Campbell have been retrieved from charity boss Jeremy Ratcliffe . (reuters)

The mystery of the Naomi Campbell blood diamonds has finally been solved.

South African authorities yesterday said they were in possession of the uncut precious stones that international investigators maintain were a gift to the British supermodel from former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

South Africa’s elite police investigation unit, known as the Hawks, said it retrieved the stones Thursday from the Johannesburg home of Jeremy Ratcliffe, former director of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The police have sent them to a local diamond-regulation authority for examination.

Ratcliffe confirmed the handoff to The Post, denying published reports that the authorities had “seized” them from him earlier in the week.

“Nothing was seized from anyone,” he said. “I did hand them over to the Hawks on Thursday.”

He said an arrangement had been made in advance.

Ratcliffe’s name surfaced when Campbell testified at Taylor’s war-crimes trial that she gave the pouch of “dirty-looking stones” to Ratcliffe in 1997 while they were on the luxury Blue Train between the South African capital, Pretoria, and Cape Town after they’d attended a charity dinner hosted by Mandela.

Prosecutors believe Taylor, a fellow guest at the Mandela dinner, flirted with Campbell during the dinner, then had three men deliver them to her room as a gift.

In a statement, Ratcliffe explained why he had kept the diamonds in his home safe for so long.

“I thought it might well be illegal for her to take uncut diamonds out of the country,” said Ratcliffe.

“Naomi suggested they could be of some benefit to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, but I told her I would not involve the NMCF in anything that could possibly be illegal.

“In the end, I decided I should just keep them,” said Ratcliffe, because the charity, Mandela and Campbell would not benefit in any way from his doing something with them.

Still, he admitted that he knew it could be a crime to possess the rocks.

“Technically, holding uncut diamonds in South Africa is a felony,” Ratcliffe said. “The police are doing their investigation now. It’s what they have to do.”

Prosecutors are trying to make a direct link between Taylor, who is charged with 11 crimes against humanity, including murder and rape in connection with Sierra Leone’s civil war, and blood diamonds, which they believe the African warlord traded to fund the violence.