Federal Police crack down on smuggling, sale of Venezuelan gold

Brazil’s Federal Police launched Operation Eldorado on Wednesday morning (Sep. 20) to arrest suspected leaders of a scheme to smuggle and sell Venezuelan gold extracted from illegal gold mines.

The ring, said to have raised nearly BRL 6 billion, involves the clandestine entry of the ore into Brazil as payment for the export of food to markets in the states of Roraima and Amazonas, in North Brazil.

According to the probes, the main people investigated are also involved in the illegal exploitation of gold in Yanomami lands as well as in gold mines in other Brazilian states.

Operation Eldorado will enforce two preventive arrest warrants and 40 search and seizure warrants in the states of Roraima, Amazonas, Goiás, and the Federal District, issued by Roraima courts.

Venezuelan gold

According to the Federal Police, the carriers hired by the suspects hid the gold smuggled from Venezuela inside the trucks. The vehicles then entered Roraima without perfoming the necessary procedures and without paying taxes.

Afterwards, the ore was bought by other ring members and sent to companies in the gold mining business, which were responsible for paying supermarkets and food distributors.

In addition to the arrest and search warrants, the authorities also ordered the seizure of assets in the financial market, as well as vehicles and aircraft belonging to those being investigated.

*With information from the Federal Police