Looted gold

[bigjarofwasps]

Monday, March 15, 2004

British soldier caught smuggling gold out of Iraq

LONDON: A British soldier serving in Iraq was caught trying to smuggle a solid gold bar found in a bank vault out of the country, officials and a report said on Sunday.

The gold bar weighed 40 pounds and was worth around 250,000 pounds, according to the News of the World newspaper.

It said that the unnamed soldier had been among a group of British soldiers who came across a horde of gold bars at a bank ransacked by looters in the southern Iraqi city of Basra shortly after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein last year.

One of the bars disappeared, and the soldier — described in the newspaper by a colleague as “not the brightest in the world” — attempted to smuggle it in a kitbag onto a flight to Cyprus when he went on leave in June last year. However bags were checked with scanners before they were allowed on the plane and the gold was discovered.

“The matter was dealt with by the regimental sergeant major of the unit he was in,” a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said on Sunday.

“The alleged bar of gold is in safe custody and it is the property of the Iraqis and will be returned in due course.” —AFP

[bigjarofwasps]

Heres an interesting link........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_gold

[bigjarofwasps]

https://www.investindinar.co.uk/shop/index.php

[bigjarofwasps]

The camera never lies?

http://rense.com/general37/libb.htm

[bigjarofwasps]

http://www.intlrepo-depo.com/

[bigjarofwasps]

..........

[bigjarofwasps]

.........

[Hun Helmet]

He should have coated it in lead and mailed it home LOL

[bigjarofwasps]

Iraq Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

http://www.indexmundi.com/iraq/reserves_of...e_and_gold.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_gold

[Hauptmann]

He should have coated it in lead and mailed it home LOL

Now now... if he'd ever seen Goldfinger he'd have known all you'd have to do it melt it down and fashion it into bodywork for a Rolls Royce Phantom III 37 and off he'd go with no one any the wiser! At least that's the sylish way of doing it.

Dan

Edited September 12, 2006 by Hauptman

[Bob Hunter]

...a part of me wants to say, Nice try buddy!

[bigjarofwasps]

Have a little think about this for a moment. Okey he manages to get his gold bar out of Iraq and now has it back in his barrack block. Now what??? Its not as if you could just pop down to the local jewellers and sell it is it?? What on earth would you do with it? Use it as a very expensive door stop or something?

[Ralph A]

If the brick in #5 was real, I don't think he'd be able to lift it like that.

[Kev in Deva]

Have a little think about this for a moment. Okey he manages to get his gold bar out of Iraq and now has it back in his barrack block. Now what??? Its not as if you could just pop down to the local jewellers and sell it is it?? What on earth would you do with it? Use it as a very expensive door stop or something?

Naa Guv, take a long-weekend pass to London, and then you would take a walk down to the "Volunteer" or the "Barge Aground" pubs in Barking, or similar watering holes in Daghenam, and Bobs your Uncle, soon be sorted wif all those Arfer Daly types , although I believe they are used to shifting far bigger loads that fall of trucks coming fro Heffrow Aerport.

Kevin in Deva

[bigjarofwasps]

If the brick in #5 was real, I don't think he'd be able to lift it like that.

Good point

[bigjarofwasps]

Naa Guv, take a long-weekend pass to London, and then you would take a walk down to the "Volunteer" or the "Barge Aground" pubs in Barking, or similar watering holes in Daghenam, and Bobs your Uncle, soon be sorted wif all those Arfer Daly types , although I believe they are used to shifting far bigger loads that fall of trucks coming fro Heffrow Aerport.

Kevin in Deva

Or you`d end up in the Thames? If you get what I mean!!!

[Kev in Deva]

Or you`d end up in the Thames? If you get what I mean!!!

more like Barking Creek nasty, very nasty, if ya know what i mean, Guv.

Kevin in Deva

[Bryan]

It seems easier for them to find gold as to find Weapons of Mass Destruction.

[bigjarofwasps]

It seems easier for them to find gold as to find Weapons of Mass Destruction.

[bigjarofwasps]

Iraq Gives Back Gold It Stole During Its Attack on Kuwait

Iraq has handed back to Kuwait gold bullion worth about $700 million that Baghdad looted during its invasion of the emirate last year, United Nations officials said today.

The officials said the last of 3,216 bars of gold was handed over at the Saudi border post of Arar on Thursday.

Transfer of the gold, looted from the central bank, began on Aug. 5 under the supervision of United Nations officials. Each bar was tested for purity and weight.

Dick Foran, the United Nations envoy in charge of returning Kuwaiti property from Iraq, said Baghdad was expected to start returning artifacts taken from Kuwait National Museum by mid-September.

[bigjarofwasps]

US forces find 2000 gold bars

US soldiers in Iraq seized a truck believed to be loaded with 2000 gold bars worth as much as $762.8 million during a routine search near the Syrian border.

"The bars may have a total worth of 500 million US dollars, depending on carat weight and purity," the US Central Command said.

Soldiers from the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment stopped the Mercedes-Benz truck and its two occupants yesterday in Al Qaim, finding the 18 kilogram bars, which measured 10 centimetres by 13 centimetres by 25 centimetres.

"The occupants told the soldiers that they had been paid a total of 350,000 dinars ($534) to pick up the truck in Baghdad and drive it to an unnamed individual in Al Qaim," the US Central Command said in a statement.

News of the find came as senior US military sources insisted there would be no special deals with Uday Hussein, playboy son of ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam.

"His surrender will have to be unconditional," said a senior commander, commenting on reports in The Wall Street Journal that negotiations were already under way with Saddam's eldest son.

Uday would be expected to face human rights charges, and any deal which meant he did not would come under fierce attack.

Meanwhile, the occupants of the truck, who were not identified, said they had been told the bars were bronze, but authorities believe the bars are made of gold and are having them tested.

The command said the men, the truck and the apparent gold hoard was being held by the regiment.

Al Qaim, a town on the Euphrates across the border from Syria, has been a key transit point for fleeing members of the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi central bank and other banks were looted by the regime before the war and were ransacked again in the chaos that followed the fall of the Iraqi capital.

But how much was taken when the banks were emptied and how much in other ill-gotten gains was squirrelled away during Saddam's rule is unknown.

US authorities estimate Saddam and his family made off with $US900 million ($1.37 billion) from the central bank before the war.

Saddam's son Qusay was reported to have sent three tractor trailers to the central bank to clean it out shortly before the war.

US forces have recovered about $700 million in US currency and $US90 million in euros, which US authorities believe came from the central bank.

Another $400 million in US currency was believed to have been looted from other Iraqi banks.

Once across the border in Syria, hard-to-trace gold could quickly disappear into the international market. The cash generated by the sales could then buy protection for former regime members or finance those left behind in Iraq.

Saddam, Qusay and Uday remain unaccounted for 43 days after US forces captured Baghdad.

But nearly half of the 55 Iraqis on a US most wanted list have been captured or have surrendered, and those at large increasingly appear to be running out of options.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday Uday Hussein was putting out surrender feelers from his hideout in a Baghdad suburb but had been put off by a tough US negotiating stance.

Fearful of being killed if found by Iraqis, Uday "doesn't have good choices", a source familiar with the discussions was quoted as saying.

Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, has offered to let Saddam's wife and daughter live under his protection in the north.

[Kev in Deva]

US forces find 2000 gold bars

Hallo BJOW, Can you date the above story? I thinks its an old one?? Kevin in Deva.

[Tiger-pie]

Have a little think about this for a moment. Okey he manages to get his gold bar out of Iraq and now has it back in his barrack block. Now what??? Its not as if you could just pop down to the local jewellers and sell it is it?? What on earth would you do with it? Use it as a very expensive door stop or something?

Well his colleague did say that he wasn't very bright...

You could probably get away with it here in Oz, but you couldn't just dispose of a whole brick! You would have to break it up, make smaller ingots, and while you were going through that process, go and file a claim or two (read ten at least !!) in a known gold producing area to prospect and gradually sell it off.

The other alternative would be to sell it criminals, which leaves you open to, at least, being ripped off, at worst, finding that it is very difficult to swim against the downward pull of an engine block* when your hands are tied...

Regards;

Johnsy

*A favouite of the underworld element in Sydney as it leaves no mess, the water off Sydney is very deep and there is lots of water-traffic to cover your movements and limited policing.

[Tiger-pie]

Hallo BJOW, Can you date the above story? I thinks its an old one?? Kevin in Deva.

US forces find 2000 gold bars

May 25 2003

The Sun-Herald (subsidery of whatever news agency first supplied story break)

Regards;

Johnsy

[bigjarofwasps]

Hallo BJOW, Can you date the above story? I thinks its an old one?? Kevin in Deva.

Kev, I think it date just slightly after the invasion (later 2003). As for the other article, well that dates just after the first show!