MIAMI — A passenger on a flight from Colombia was carrying a six-pound cache of belt buckles, bracelets and key chains — painted in black.
On closer inspection, it was discovered beneath the dark veneer to be real gold in disguise, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
Customs officers found the precious yellow metal — valued at about $170,000 — on the passenger who tried to smuggle it into the United States on the Oct. 6 Colombia-Fort Lauderdale flight, officials said.
“Gold is one of the top ten items smuggled globally, either to evade import duties or to launder the illicit profits of transnational criminal organizations,“ Stephen J. Balog, CBP’s Acting Fort Lauderdale Port Director, said in a statement released Friday. “This discovery is indicative of the attention to detail our officers deploy every day protecting our nation’s economy.”
The disguised gold, which weighs 2,704 grams, is now evidence in a criminal case opened by Homeland Security Investigations.
Over the past decade, Miami has evolved into a major hub of gold imports from South America — some illicit, authorities say.
In 2018, the Miami Herald published a series of stories about a gold-smuggling trail extending from Peru and neighboring countries to South America. A group of Miami importers and their South American suppliers were charged in a $3.6 billion money-laundering case accusing them of washing South American drug profits through the gold trade into the U.S. precious metal market.
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