Crime wave hits Copperbelt

The costs and risks of doing
business in the Copperbelt
region of Zambia and
Democratic Republic of Congo have
risen substantially due to a crime
wave sparked by a government
decision to ban exports of ore and
concentrate, and to insist that some
value is added locally.
An unintended consequence is that
loads of copper blister and anodes
are acting as a magnet to local and
international syndicates.
The situation is so bad that
most hauliers will only allow their
satellite-tracked trucks to travel in
convoys protected by armed guards –
with movement restricted to daylight
hours.
Cargo owners have also switched
to rail, which is proving safer than
road.
According to a report published in
Organised Crime Watch, a newsletter
produced by the Organised Crime and
Money Laundering Programme of the
Institute for Security Studies (ISS),
organised crime networks are “deeply
entrenched in the business of mining
copper ore”.
The networks are “involved
in a range of criminal activities,
ranging from rampant white-collar
crime to blatant theft of machinery,
accessories and fuel – and, of course,
the illegal mining and theft of copper
ore and concentrate,” it says.
Confirming what FTW was told by
a number of Zambian operators, the
report says “the imprint” of organised
crime is seen in the theft of highvalue
cargo.
“The buying of concentrate and
anodes appears to be dominated by
Chinese buyers, who own smelters
in the industrial areas of Kitwe and
Ndola, where the concentrate and
anodes are rebranded,” it says.
Stolen copper loads are quickly
remelted in any of an estimated 30
illegal smelters (and some unethical
legal operations) in the Copperbelt,
and mixed in with copper from other
sources, to make it impossible to
trace the origin of the metal.
The products are then exported,
mostly to China.
Truck drivers have been identified
by both the report and FTW sources
as being implicated in a number of
so-called “hijackings” of vehicles.
“They stop laden trucks at buyers’
delivery points, but later claim to
have been hijacked; they have also
been known to simply dump the
trucks and run away,” says the report.
Drivers can also divert trucks of
copper ore or empty the high-grade
ore and reload with low-grade ore or
plain earth.
The tentacles reach down to South
Africa. The report cites a case of
a truck of concentrate, which was
diverted by a driver while in transit
for export packaging.
It was sold to a Zambian buyer,
who in turn sold it to a group of
Chinese traders. The Chinese had
already sent the ore to Johannesburg
en-route to China by the time the
police investigations led to them.
The ore was impounded by
Interpol in Johannesburg, according
to Organised Crime Watch.
Zambian authorities have also
promised to clamp down on the theft
of copper and illegal mining, which is
also rife in the area.