KABUSWE SAYS SEIZED ‘GOLD’ IS COPPER, ZINC AND TIN
Written by Mafken FM Newsroom on 16 August 2023
Minister of Mines and Mineral Development, Paul Kabuswe says the alleged gold that was seized on a private jet by the Drug Enforcement Commission –DEC- at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport is actually copper, zinc with some traces of tin.
Mr Kabuswe says after his ministry was informed of the seizure, a team of experts was sent to assist with verifications and after doing a comprehensive analysis at a lab, they discovered that the bars contained copper in the range of 58 to 61 percent, Zinc in the range of 38 to 41 percent and traces of tin and nickel.
Earlier yesterday, the Drug Enforcement Commission –DEC- disclosed that it has in detention 10 people including one Zambian in connection with the over 5 million United States Dollars, 127 Kilograms of Gold and other suspected illegal goods that were discovered in a chartered plane that landed at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport on Sunday 13th August at 19:00 hours.
DEC Director General Nason Banda revealed that, acting on a tipoff, the Commission together with officers from various Law Enforcement Agencies conducted an operation on Monday, August 14th at Airport.
He said the operation resulted in a seizure of $5,697,700, 5 Pistols, 7 magazines, 126 rounds of ammunition, 602 pieces of suspected Gold weighing 127.2 kg and Equipment used for measuring Gold.
Mr Banda further disclosed that, the commission has since seized the Aeroplane on which the items were found and another aircraft belonging to a local airline to help with investigations.
By Dockiso Zulu
