South Africa has surfaced as a key transit point for bullion smugglers wanting to channel the precious metal to and from one of the world’s most prolific players in the gold industry – Dubai.
Marcena Hunter, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said in terms of illicit gold networks, “South Africa is a major cog for the southern Africa region. “The South African local scrap metal-to-refinery route leading to Dubai is undoubtedly the preferred route for most syndicates,” the report said.
Illegal underground miners were often undocumented migrants. On the flipside of this chain were national and international distributors who sometimes worked via front companies. The suspects – Francis Deliot Regasy, Mahamodo Mahavanona and Zava Herimanana Anjaranantenaina – had been travelling from Madagascar and planned to get to Dubai via Ethiopia.
A short while later, also in December 2015, SARS announced that two passengers were detained at OR Tambo International Airport after 39 gold bars, weighing roughly 37kg, were found in one’s hand luggage. Based on SARS and police press statements, there have been several arrests, mainly at OR Tambo International Airport, of suspects travelling with gold bars over several years.
A short while later, also in December 2015, SARS announced that two passengers were detained at OR Tambo International Airport after 39 gold bars, weighing roughly 37kg, were found in one’s hand luggage. Then, at the end of February 2017, SARS said a passenger with five gold bars, worth about R8-million, was also arrested at OR Tambo International Airport.In July last year, in an article published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described on its website as a “foreign-policy think tank”, gold smuggling to Dubai was red-flagged.
Gold dubiously brought into Dubai could be sold to refiners and jewellers who could transform it into a product, for example jewellery, that was accepted on the legitimate market.
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