GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC): The government is improving surveillance in the interior locations of the country in a bid to tighten the slack ends related to gold smuggling.
Mines officers now use body cameras and drones to help spot illegal activities.
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The intention is to plug all of the loopholes existing outside of the formal channel through which gold is exported.
Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat spoke about the issue during his mid-year press conference at the Guyana Forestry Commission Complex here on Wednesday.
“If you ask me if there is no gold smuggling in Guyana or if it is not affecting declaration, I might tell you I’m not in a position to say yes or no. We know our country and the resources we have to monitor mining in Guyana. We know the terrain we are dealing with; we know our borders how it is,” Bharrat said.
Regarding the legal exportation of gold, he said: “If you asked me if gold is being smuggled through the formal channel out of Guyana, I would say no, it is not, because we have checked the system.”
According to the minister, the number of agencies and people involved make it difficult for people to conspire.
“If there are leakages, we are working towards cutting it out, eradicating all these small illegalities that may be contributing. That’s why we are against workers being paid in gold, because the gold may very well end up through a formal channel.”
Just recently, Bharrat met with goldsmiths and jewellery store owners to remind them of their responsibility to ensure that they buy gold from the Guyana Gold Board.
He also said that several persons who were recently arrested for gold smuggling are currently before the courts
