Three Chinese nationals in possession of about $800,000 were arrested in the Walungu region of the South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for illegal gold mining and attempted mineral export to a neighboring country, the province's governor Jean Jacques Purusi told a briefing last week.
"We received operational information that gold mined in the province was being illegally exported abroad. As soon as we received this information, we organized an operation," the official noted.
According to Purusi, the authorities intercepted the criminals' vehicle, discovering gold and silver ingots along with nearly $800,000.
"We searched the car, nothing. We looked everywhere, nothing. Finally, we took the seats apart and that's when we found 12 bars of gold and almost 800,000 dollars. […] It should be noted that this represents about a tenth of their loot," Purusi added.
This is reportedly the second detention of Chinese nationals in South Kivu in almost three weeks on suspicion of involvement in illegal gold mining, as on December 20, 2024, provincial authorities arrested 17 Chinese workers at the gold mine.
The South Kivu governor expressed concern over previous cases related to Chinese illegal miners, where suspects were extradited without local authorities' knowledge.