smugglers - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

DRC seizes gold worth $1.9 million

CONGOLESE authorities have seized 31 kg of gold, worth around $1.9 million, in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the country's northeast, in a rare loss for smugglers who fraudulently bring tonnes of Congolese gold into the global market each year. Lieutenant Jean de Dieu Musongela, head of the military prosecutor's office in Mambasa, said on Tuesday the 31 ingots, which would have entered the open market after being smuggled through a neighbouring country, came from Muchacha, which he described as a mine in the Okapi reserve. Mining in the reserve - a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to okapi, forest…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Dozens of African migrants feared dead

NEWS

DOZENS of African migrants are feared to have died yesterday after smugglers threw them overboard off Djibouti as they were en route to Yemen, hoping to enter Saudi Arabia to find work. Their boat, carrying 200 migrants, left Oulebi in Djibouti at 2 a.m., according to Yvonne Ndege, spokeswoman for the U.N. International Organisation for Migration (IOM). But survivors said that, half an hour later, the smugglers judged the boat was overloaded and threw at least 80 passengers off, Ndege said. She said five bodies had been retrieved so far. Drownings in the waters off Eritrea, typically involving migrants from…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Traffickers, smugglers exploiting COVID-19, Interpol warns after global crackdown

WORLD

KIERAN GUILBERT DOZENS of suspected victims of human trafficking were rescued and more than 200 people arrested in a global crackdown on smuggling and trafficking networks, Interpol has announced. The recent week-long operation involved authorities from 32 nations across several continents and led to the identification of 3,500 irregular migrants, the global police agency said. About 100 potential trafficking victims were found and helped in Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Spain and Uruguay as part of Operation Turquesa II, Interpol said. The operation highlighted how the coronavirus pandemic has left a rising number of people vulnerable to trafficking worldwide,…