Malian customs have seized a shipment of 143 kilos of gold, valued at over CFA 4 billion, hidden in a car bound for neighboring Guinea, APA learned on Tuesday.
“This seizure concerns 88 gold bars weighing 143 kilos,” says Colonel Hamadou Sanogo, who heads the custom’s investigative unit.
The 143 kilos discovered in the night from Saturday to Sunday were “intended for exports without the knowledge of customs officers, which would have had the consequence of disrupting our economy,” the Deputy Director General of Malian customs, Colonel-Major Amidou Fakourou Bakagha said.
Mali ranks as the fifth gold producing country on the continent, according to the World Bank.
The industrial and artisanal production sites make this precious metal the country’s leading export, the World Bank said.
However, Mali’s porous borders and an economy largely dominated by the informal sector, renders gold seizures on the roads frequent.
ARD/cgd/fss/as/APA