Gold smugglers adopt new methods– Trotman

Jul 26, 2016 News

With the country seeing higher declarations of gold, it sends a clear message that the efforts of Government

Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Raphael Trotman.

and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to curb the smuggling of gold are bearing fruit.
This increase also indicates that persons are showing more confidence in the system, according to Minster of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.
The Minister said that persons have been switching to more innovative ways of smuggling. However, he is confident that the relevant authorities will soon be able to put a lid on that too.
He added that recently, a person was arrested at the Eugene. F. Correia International Airport, Ogle with a large chain in his possession.
“We’ve now noticed that persons are now switching to large jewellery as a means of smuggling,”
Late last year, amidst deep worry by the new administration over billions of dollars in lost taxes and royalties, a team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US premier investigative law enforcement agency, and the Department of Homeland Security, visited Guyana and briefed authorities here on their findings.
The information reportedly fingered a number of big players in the industry.
It was later revealed that approximately 15,000 ounces of gold was slipping across the borders every month. Minister Trotman had tentatively put the smuggled figures between 50 and 60 percent of total production.
Trotman had revealed then, that based on what came out of the meeting with the US law enforcement agencies at the Ministry of Public Security, that the gold was being smuggled into Guyana from Colombia and Venezuela. The systems at the border were regarded as weak.
Meanwhile, gold from Guyana was reportedly being smuggled to places such as Brazil and Suriname, where it moves on to Europe, even as there are indications that gold smuggled from Guyana is landing at the Miami International Airport and the John F. Kennedy Airport in the United States.