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French-German gold trafficking network worth millions busted

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
French-German gold trafficking network worth millions busted
Photo: DPA

French police have dismantled a vast gold-trafficking network between France and Germany, seizing 30 kilos of gold and arresting 14 people, authorities said Friday.

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The gold collectors would retrieve jewellery from thieves, melt it into ingots in France, and sell them to a gold-buying company in Germany, said prosecutors in Nancy in northeast France.

"This illegal gold trafficking could be worth a couple dozen million euros," they added.

On top of the 30 kilos (1,058 ounces) of gold seized -- worth €1.5 million (around $1.7 million) -- police also found 12 vehicles worth a total of €340,000, 30 luxury watches and around €121,000 in cash.

The suspects were arrested between mid-May and late June and face charges of "stealing as part of an organised group" and "aggravated laundering", the prosecutor's statement said.

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"The investigations continue, in particular based on accounting vouchers seized during raids in Germany and Belgium," it added.

A French jeweller and nine accomplices were arrested in another gold trafficking case between France and Germany last October, in a case thought by Europol to be worth at least €1 million.

The 56-year-old jeweller was arrested on a train at the border between France and Germany in possession of €37,000 in cash, Europol said at the time.

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Anonymous 2020/06/27 21:24
My clothes seem to suffering from agravated laundering.

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