Raids 'break up' £20m theft gang

[emad]

BBC News

Raids in the UK and South Africa involving more than 400 officers are thought to have broken up a gang that stole £20m worth of precious metals.

The simultaneous swoops were carried out by the National Crime Squad in England and by South African investigators known as the Scorpions.

Detectives were probing the hijacking of platinum group metals (PGMs) from mines and refineries in South Africa.

They were allegedly illegally exported to the UK using bogus invoices. Residential and businesses addresses in Cambridgeshire, Herefordshire, Gloucester, and Heathrow Airport were raided on Friday morning as part of Operation Clown and Project Yield.

More more more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3745912.stm

I wonder if there is any conection to Mark Thatcher's gold smelter, reputedly used for laundering stolen precious metals and reported on in the saga of the Equatorial Guinea Coup Plot.......