Burkinabe customs officers arrested three individuals in possession of 28.6 kilograms of gold in Cinkansé, a border town with Togo, in the southeast of the country, the General Directorate of Customs of Burkina Faso announced on Wednesday. The arrest took place on Tuesday December 17, 2024, when agents from the Bittou customs office, located approximately 40 km northwest of Cinkansé, seized a record quantity of gold, with an estimated value of 2 .18 million euros, in collaboration with the national police.
According to a press release from the customs services, the gold had been carefully hidden on the individuals, who were heading towards Lomé, the capital of neighboring Togo.
This seizure comes after the suspension, in February, of the authorization to export gold and other precious substances from artisanal and semi-mechanized production, a measure aimed at cleaning up the mining sector and better organizing the marketing of precious resources, according to the Minister of Energy and Mines, Yacouba Zabré Gouba. Burkina Faso currently has 17 industrial gold mines, five of which have been closed due to the jihadist violence hitting the country.
At the same time, the artisanal sector produces around 10 tonnes of gold per year. The country also launched the construction of its first gold refinery in 2023, which should produce 150 tonnes of 99.99% pure gold annually.
