A vast parallel gold trade network has been dismantled in the Jura and Côte d’Or but also in the Marne and Bouches du Rhône, authorities said on Friday 26 June. This illicit gold trade could reach several tens of millions of euros.
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A vast parallel network of gold trade has been dismantled, said Friday, June 26, the investigating judge of the Inter-regional Specialized Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Nancy.
Several police services, such as the Dijon research section, the Central Office for combating itinerant delinquency (OCLDI), the Burgundy interregional grouping (GIR) and local brigades, allowed the arrest of twenty people. The latter were stopped on May 19 and 25, as well as June 9 and 22, in the departments of Côte d’Or, Jura but also in Marne and in Bouches du Rhône.
A very organized market
This judicial information revealed a vast illicit gold market organized in a pyramidal fashion. Gold collectors collected jewelry from thieves. The gold was then melted to form ingots. “Collectors” were then responsible for recovering these ingots for sale to a gold buyout company located in Germany.
The searches carried out in the departments of Marne, Côte d’Or and Bouches du Rhône led to the seizure of 29 kg of gold. Or a market value of 1,487,032 euros. Just over 100 kg of silver powder was also recovered. This represents 60,120 euros.
In addition to precious materials, numerous objects were also seized. Twelve vehicles with a total value of 340,000 euros as well as around thirty luxury watches and 121,169 euros in cash were confiscated.
This illegal gold trade could reach tens of millions of euros, said the JIRS press release.
Research continues
A gold collector, a French national residing in Belgium, was handed over on June 15 by the Belgian authorities following a European arrest warrant issued on June 4.
Fourteen people were indicted for “concealment by organized gangs of thefts”, “aggravated money laundering” and “participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing an offense punishable by the penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment”.
After these indictments, 11 people were placed in pre-trial detention and the other three are under judicial supervision. Accounting documents seized during searches carried out in Germany and Belgium allow the investigative work to continue.
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