Wednesday, 26th May 2004 (3021 views)

Police in Russia have announced they are to crack down on gold smugglers, following the arrest of three Russians suspected of stealing 2,000 carats worth of emeralds.

Chief of the Crime Department's precious metals and jewellery squad, Nikolai Varikhov claimed that in 2003 over 161,00 carats in stones had been confiscated with criminals also targeting mines and processing enterprises for precious metal.

A host of investigations have taken place and action taken against precious metal criminals in Russia already in 2004, according to Pravda RU.

At present authorities are carrying out a large scale operation in the Far Eastern federal district which ends next month and has already seen over 10kg of gold confiscated.

In addition officers detained two men for illegally panning gold in a local creek, where they had managed to get nearly 23 grams of gold using just an ordinary pan and spade.

Mining companies have even been charged after one extracted 13 kg of gold and then registered it as its own, as well as jewellery stores selling fake hallmarked gold having faced action.

 

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