Joint team to seek smuggled gold

President Mwai Kibaki (left), Prime Minister Raila Odinga (right) and DR Congo President Joseph Kabila at Harambee House office on March 3,2011. Photo/PPS

A joint team has been formed to intensify the search for a multi- billion-shilling illegal gold consignment from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This follows a meeting between President Kibaki and DRC President Joseph Kabila, who flew into Kenya on Thursday.

They met after weeks of a fruitless search for the 2.5 tonne gold worth Sh8 billion, stolen from Congo in January for export to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The valuable metal is said to be smuggled through Kenya.

“The governments of Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo have established a joint team to investigate the alleged trade in illegal gold.

“The team will work closely with detectives in the two countries who had already begun investigations,” said a statement from the Presidential Press Service.

A short while earlier, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere and Criminal Investigations Department (CID) boss Ndegwa Muhoro were summoned to the Head of State’s office to give an update of the local probe.

They were at Harambee House during the Presidents’ discussions, although it was not established if they were part of the talks.

The CID has been conducting the investigations together with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Immigration Department.

KRA’s senior assistant commissioner Joseph Cheptarus, who had been seconded to the investigations team, was shot dead at around 1.15am on Saturday as he entered his home in Nairobi’s South C Estate. (Read: Gold probe cited over murder)

Sources close to the investigations said that the team had established that Kenya is a frequent route for gold from DRC, serving genuine and illegal trade for overseas markets.

It was established that 25 kilogrammes of gold was the biggest quantity declared by a dealer upon entry into Kenya.

DRC’s minister for Regional and International Cooperation Raymond Tshibanda and his Mining counterpart Martin Kabwelulu had visited Kenya several weeks ago and met the President over the illegal trade.

Investigations began after the mineral-rich DRC requested the Interpol regional bureau in Nairobi to track suspected smugglers and seize any consignments on transit in Kenya. (Read: Kenyan police probe gold syndicate)

Detectives were then sent to Kenya to help local authorities arrest the culprits, intercept the haul and surrender it to Kinshasa.

The illegal trade raises security concerns because of the huge amount of money the mineral attracts in the black market, with authorities fearing that unscrupulous traders could use the wealth to purchase weapons and fuel fighting in an already volatile region.

Already, the government has enhanced screening of imports at points of entry.