Mint worker shoved gold ‘ up his arse’

AN employee of a mint smuggled £ 100,000 in gold out of his work – by shoving it up his ARSE, a court heard.

Leston Lawrence, 35, has been charged with smuggling, theft and laundering the proceeds of crime.

A court in Ottowa was told that, on multiple occasions, Lawrence took small circular chunks of gold – a nugget called a “puck” – to Ottawa Gold Buyers after sneaking them out of the Royal Canadian Mint up his bum.

Typically, the pucks weighed about half a pound, for which he was given cheques of around £ 5,000.

He was rumbled when someone at his bank got suspicious of the number of cheques being deposited and grassed him up.

Investigators found a container of vaseline in his locker and the trial was presented with the prospect that a puck could be concealed in an anal cavity and not be detected by the mint’s security devices.

The trial continues.