In a recent report, it has been revealed that Kazakhstan has seen a surge in illegal gold trafficking cases between 2020 and 2023. Senator Andrey Lukin disclosed that during this period, authorities investigated seven criminal cases related to the illegal circulation of gold, with four cases being forwarded to court. The financial losses incurred from these activities have surpassed 1.5 billion Tenge. Lukin further elaborated that the General Prosecutor’s Office registered 133 criminal offenses associated with illegal gold trading, extraction, and embezzlement over the past four years. Currently, the country hosts 42 gold mining enterprises. Lukin cited a case from November 2023, wherein law enforcement dismantled a criminal group involved in purchasing illegally mined gold from “black miners.” The seized gold was later used to produce counterfeit products resembling renowned brands, which were then sold in Astana and Shymkent. The operation resulted in the confiscation of over 1 kg of gold and 100 counterfeit items. Lukin emphasized the need for stricter surveillance at gold mines to combat such violations. He estimated that for every three tons of legally mined gold, there is one ton mined illegally, accounting for approximately 25 tons of illegally sourced gold annually nationwide. Lukin proposed bolstering security measures at mining sites, including installing additional surveillance cameras, equipping mine shafts with fiber optic channels, implementing access control systems, utilizing screening complexes, erecting dual fencing, deploying automatic detection sensors, and other safety measures.
Source and Credit: inform.kz
