The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Homeland Security will be working alongside authorities in Guyana to investigate international gold smuggling operations, officials announced today. In particular, the U.S. will help to trace the money trail that is generated by the contraband.
Weekly, around 15,000 ounces of raw gold is illegally exported from the country, reports the Latin Correspondent, which means that more than half of the gold produced in Guyana is lost to smuggling.
"Indicators are that the gold is going to Brazil. It is going over the borders to Suriname, not to stay in Suriname but to go to Europe," explained Guyanese Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman in a press conference, according to the Jamaica Observer. "It is being landed at Miami International Airport. It is being landed at John F. Kennedy and it is going to the Middle East."
Trotman stated that said the FBI contacted the Guyanese authorities upon discovering that significant quantities of gold were being declared at the American border, but not in Guyana. He also noted that some of the gold comes from Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil, "passing through what could be weak or porous systems" in Guyana.
He did not reveal which business operators are being investigated, but Sydney James, head of the Guyanese Special Organized Crime Unit, declared that some suspects have already been prosecuted, reports The Associated Press via ABC News. "We are now getting information we had always wanted from the federal agencies," James said. "All the relevant departments are cooperating with us."
The illegal trade is instigated in part by better prices that can be obtained overseas and income that can be concealed from the government in order to avoid taxation, explains Caribbean360.
Supervised by the Guyana Gold Board and the Guyana Revenue Authority, the investigation will also involve tightening protocols connected to the export of gold, according to the Associated Press. The Guyana Gold Board announced that in 2015, gold exports reached 451,000 ounces in declarations, bringing export earnings close to $500 million (USD).
