Major illicit diamond and gold haul at Beitbridge

Rough diamonds and gold worth more than R2 million were confiscated at Beitbridge border post last week, according to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

Sars noted in a statement that customs officials had discovered rough diamonds and gold hidden in a traveller’s belongings at the Beitbridge border post last week.

"During an inspection of goods in a truck from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), officials noticed unusual objects in certain of the boxes being transported," said Sars.

Different types of rough stones were found in a sealed container, including:
• 143.35g of suspected gold,
• 63.54g of suspected black diamonds,
• 67.58g of suspected diamonds,
• 173.10g of suspected uncut industrial diamonds,
• 10.36g of suspected clear uncut diamonds and
• 566.87g of suspected industrial diamonds.

"The estimated value of all suspected diamonds is R2 263 501 and the estimated value of the suspected gold is R17 497 000," Sars said in a statement.