According to the officials, three Chinese nationals were taken into custody in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with twelve gold bars and a total of $800,000 (£650,000) in cash.
Jean Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province, revealed that the gold and money were concealed beneath the vehicle seats they were travelling.
After the recent release of another group of Chinese nationals who were accused of operating an illegal gold mine in the area, he stated that the operation to arrest the men had been kept a secret.
Gold Smuggling in DR Congo: How 12 Gold Bars and $800,000 Were Found
The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is abundant in gold, diamonds, and other minerals used to produce batteries for mobile phones and electric cars.
Since the time of colonial rule, foreign parties have been pillaging this country’s natural wealth, which is one of the primary reasons why the region has been plagued by instability for the past thirty years.
Many of the mines in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are controlled by militia groups, and the commanders of these groups amass a fortune by selling the mines to middlemen.
Purusi stated that some of these precious metals dealers have good contacts with powerful people in Kinshasa, the country’s capital. As a result, the mission to carry out these most recent arrests had to be kept quiet.
He stated that they had been acting on a tip and that the gold and money were only discovered after thoroughly examining the vehicle in the Walungu region, which is not far from the border with Rwanda.
He did not disclose the precise amount of gold that had been taken.
In a statement to the press, the governor expressed his astonishment at the news that seventeen Chinese nationals, who had been detained on suspicion of operating an illegal gold mine, had been released and given permission to return to China.
He added that this hindered efforts to clean up the infamously murky mineral sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to the BBC news agency, he said they owed the government ten million dollars in taxes and fines.
The Chinese Embassy’s Silence on Arrest of Nationals in DR Congo Gold Smuggling Case
There has been no response from the Chinese embassy about the charges.
During the time that the arrests were made, fighting was still going on in the neighbouring province of North Kivu, where a rebel group that Rwanda supports had taken control of huge portions of the territory.
A month after the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced that it would sue Apple over the use of “blood minerals,” the tech giant said that it has ceased receiving supplies from both the country and Rwanda.
Rwanda has denied that it is a conduit for the movement of illegal minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In the complaint they filed on behalf of the Congolese government, the attorneys claimed that the minerals taken from conflict zones were then “laundered through international supply chains.”
“These activities have fuelled a cycle of violence and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups and have contributed to forced child labour and environmental devastation,” according to the researchers.
