Please try another search
© Reuters.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's federal police said they arrested two people on Wednesday suspected of involvement in a racket smuggling gold illegally mined on Indigenous land to the U.S. and Europe.
Police carried out 16 search and seizure warrants across Brazil as part of the operation, an official police statement said, without giving more details.
A police source told Reuters that federal agents arrested Brubeyk Nascimento in northern Amazonas state, while the other person remains unnamed for now.
Werner Rydl, an Austrian millionaire and naturalized Brazilian, was the target of a search and seizure, the source said, adding that authorities seized gold bars kept by Rydl, worth more than 5.7 billion reais ($1.18 billion).
The operation began with the January 2020 seizure of 35 kilos of gold at Manaus airport, the police source said. Two New Yorkers and business partners, Frank Giannuzzi and Steven Bellino, as well as Nascimento, were trying to board a flight to New York with the gold in a suitcase, the source said.
The U.S. citizens are partners in a New York City-based firm, Doromet Inc, which was going to trade the metal, the source said. The three men claimed that the gold was the result of melted jewelry, and presented false documents to prove its origin, the source said.
However, the police's analysis of the material showed that the true origin of the gold was illegal mining in the Tapajos region of Para, northern Brazil.
"The investigation revealed that the criminal organization acquired gold from Indigenous lands and riverbeds with the use of dredges and fraudulently declared that the gold was extracted through legally granted mining permits," the official police statement said.
Reuters attempted to reach all parties in the police operations but did not receive a response.
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.