Police in South Africa on Tuesday busted a massive platinum smuggling syndicate stretching from South Africa to Europe after a two-year undercover operation.
Forty people, including two policemen, were arrested in the police swoop, dubbed Operation Gold, in South Africa's North West province.
"Two undercover agents were placed in hostels and 60 prime suspects belonging to five syndicates were identified. So far 40 have been arrested, including two policemen," police spokesman Ernie van Rensburg told journalists at the scene.
On Tuesday morning, 150 armed police carried out house searches and raids on business premises in different parts of the province.
By noon they had recovered three acetylene blow torches and other equipment used to melt solid platinum into easily transportable nuggets.
The equipment was confiscated at a so-called "smuggle workshop" where raw platinum was melted down into nuggets, making it easier to hide and transport, police agent Neels van der Merwe said.
"Inside the workshop, we found at least two ounces of platinum which retails at around 425 dollars an ounce," he told AFP.
Precious metals valued at nearly nine million rand (about 940,000 dollars/ one million euros), the bulk of which was platinum, have been recovered to date, police said in a statement.
The investigation was coordinated by the national organised crime head office in Pretoria and the diamond and gold branch, in conjunction with two platinum mining houses.
Several employees of local mines were among those arrested.
The 40 are expected to appear in court on Wednesday to be charged with theft and illegal possession and trading of unwrought precious metals.
If convicted, the traffickers could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Some of the stolen platinum was sold in South Africa, while the rest was smuggled out of the country.
Interpol is working with the police to investigate people believed to have received the stolen metal in other countries, Van Rensburg said.
He said smuggling syndicates used mainly ships to transport the illicit platinum, and that the east coast port of Durban was their "preferred harbour."
He said police were investigating smuggling links to Europe, saying it was believed that ports on the Rhine River in Germany were a major offset point for platinum from South Africa.
Including today's arrests, police have nabbed more than 100 people suspected of smuggling the precious metal since the start of the year.
Although they could not give a figure of the total amount or value of precious metals recovered in Tuesday's operation, police said their haul constituted about eight percent of the total amount of platinum smuggled out of South Africa, the world's largest producer of the precious metal.
"It's still going on out there, but we hit them hard today. It's like drug smuggling -- there will always be a market for it," Van Rensburg said -- MOOINOOI, South Africa, (AFP)
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