Police intercept Toyota Land Cruiser carrying 1.6kgs of gold worth US$1.6 million after tip off

On Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) received a tip-off that gold was about to be smuggled out of the country hidden inside a Toyota Prado Land Cruiser.

Acting on this information, detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department Minerals, Flora and Fauna Unit tracked the vehicle and arrested three suspects.

During the operation, 15,7 kilogrammes of gold, valued at approximately USD 1,568,860, were recovered.

The recovered gold has been safely handed over to Fidelity Gold Refinery in Msasa.

Investigations into the smuggling attempt are ongoing to identify other possible accomplices and prevent similar incidents in the future.

Zimbabwe loses about US$1.5-billion annually to smuggling of the precious metal including gold, according to the International Crisis Group.
*ZwNews