POLICE INTERCEPT 21KG GOLD:
POLICE have intercepted more than 21 kilogrammes of gold valued at $960 000 at Zimbabwe’s main border posts since January 2018 as they upped their game in plugging gold leakages.
Speaking during an Extraction Workshop for journalists in Harare yesterday, ZRP Minerals and Border Control Unit Head of Operations, Chief Superintendent Didymus Masiiwa Sakarombe said the operation has also busted gold smuggling syndicates.
He said most of the arrests were made at Plumtree and Beitbridge border posts.
Two hundred and twenty-five arrests have been made so far, while vehicles specifically designed to conceal the mineral have also been impounded.
“We are working flat out to ensure that there is sanity in the mining sector. We have so far recovered more than 21 kilogrammes and made 225 arrests so far since January. We have also impounded several vehicles that are specially designed for the trafficking of the special mineral to South Africa and Botswana. The operation is still ongoing as we speak and we are targeting these gold smuggling syndicates,” he said.
Chief Supt Sakarombe said besides increasing various intelligence mechanisms at major exit and entry points to control the leakages, the unit has also intensified police presence to monitor and control mining activities at mining places.
Chief Supt Sakarombe bemoaned the country’s mineral laws which he said have been overtaken by events and are making it difficult for police to execute their duties.
“We have lobbied and we will continue to lobby with the relevant authorities for the amendment of the Gold Trade Act.
“We have engaged the Prosecutor General’s office as we try to push for the amendment of the Gold Trade Act which is not water tight. The loophole is that as long as one is in Zimbabwe, one can go anywhere with the gold as long as he is in Zimbabwe, it makes it difficult for us to arrest such a person,” he said.
The move is part of Government’s initiative to curb gold leakages and boost the gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers.