Operation Aurelia: eight raids in search of network trafficking gold to Turkey
Police are searching for the leader of a network that was sending gold to Istanbul following eight raids in Asunción and Central. The amount seized totals between USD 6 and 7 million.
Gold trafficking network with destination to Istanbul operates from Paraguay
Paraguayan police executed eight simultaneous raids in Asunción and the Central department as part of Operation Aurelia, directed against an organisation dedicated to the massive shipment of gold to Istanbul, Turkey, reported nanduti.com.py.
Commissioner Luis López, head of the Organised Crime Department, confirmed that nine people have arrest warrants. "They are the ones who manage the real structure of the gold trafficking with destination to Istanbul. Already within the series of raids some central objectives are detained," he said.
The leader of the organisation, of foreign nationality and from the Middle East, remains at large. López indicated that one of the raids was carried out at a residence in the Carmelitas neighbourhood: "It is the family residence of the main objective of this organisation. Unfortunately we did not locate him, which is precisely why the series of raids."
The network is made up of citizens from the Middle East and Paraguayans. Among the identified members is a woman of Paraguayan nationality who reportedly served as principal administrator. "All the contracts, the sales, the documentation passed through her hands," revealed the police chief.
The authorities identified three companies linked to the structure, which according to López regularly changed their business names to hinder tracing.
The volume of the illicit business is considerable: the amount seized to date ranges between USD 6 and 7 million, equivalent to 49 kilos of gold accumulated in less than four or five months. "We believe they managed to take a good quantity," the commissioner stated.
López recalled two direct precedents: at the end of last year 22 kilos of gold were seized at Silvio Pettirossi airport, and in April another 27 kilos. Both shipments had Turkey as their final destination.
Regarding the origin of the metal, the official indicated that investigations point to the Amazonian area of Brazil. "We believe the gold particularly could be from that area and they were using our country as a transit route," he said.
Source: Google News PY — Asunción