Tonnes of stolen gold-bearing ore seized in WA
WA Police charged 20 people and seized over 30 tonnes of stolen gold-bearing ore in the Goldfields region, targeting motorcycle gangs involved in pilfering from multiple mine sites near Kalgoorlie-Boulder, intending to launder the gold to support illicit drug activities.
Transcript
00:00 We did 17 warrants and several of those warrants resulted in the identification of backyard
00:07 processing areas.
00:13 The intelligence we received indicated that the gold extraction process was yielding products
00:18 that were being transacted for illicit drugs in the Kalgoorlie area.
00:24 They've been engaging in this amateur refining which could have not only obviously exposed
00:29 people in close proximity to the dangers of dangerous chemicals but could even have done
00:35 things like poison the local water supply. Incredibly dangerous.
00:42 Crime in Western Australia, a large volume of crime, is driven a lot by methamphetamine
00:46 consumption and we know that the outlaw motorcycle gangs bring that into the state and distribute
00:52 it.
00:55 (upbeat music)