—President Ali warns of imminent crackdown on gold smugglers

—says overhaul of systems to ensure ‘leakages’ are removed 

VOWING that his government will pursue and shut down delinquent operators who continue to exploit state incentives while failing to declare their gold, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Thursday, signalled an imminent crackdown on rogue elements in the gold-mining sector.

Speaking at the opening of GuyExpo 2025, the Head of State underscored that miners and operators must understand that compliance with the law is not optional.

“I want those who enjoy the benefits of the incentives we have given for gold mining, those who still are not complying with the declaration — we are going to come after you hard and strong. We will find you, and you will lose your business,” the President warned.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s mid-year report, gold declaration is up by 10.9 percent this year, but Dr. Ali stressed that this remains below the government’s expectations.

He emphasised that miners who profit from the sector have a legal responsibility to accurately declare their gold, reminding them that this duty is “not by choice, but by law.”

“You are reaping the benefits from this sector. You have a responsibility to declare your gold,” he said.

The President added that government intends to overhaul systems that have enabled chronic under-declaration and illegal exports, stating that the state must stop facilitating “those kinds of people.”

One gold smuggler alone, he noted, stole more than $190 billion from the Guyanese economy.

“Our system must be locked in, must be protected, and must be designed to ensure those leakages are removed,” he said. He added that the stolen revenues could have significantly expanded national programmes, including support for small businesses and cash grants.

Dr. Ali’s comments came on the heels of the U.S. government extradition request for father and son duo, Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed.

The Mohameds are the subject of an indictment unsealed on October 6, 2025, by a U.S. Grand Jury in the Southern District of Florida, charging them with multiple offences, including wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and customs-related violations linked to an alleged US$50 million gold export and tax evasion scheme.

The indictment alleges that between 2017 and June 2024, the accused conspired to defraud the Government of Guyana by evading export taxes and royalties on over 10,000 kilograms of gold, using falsified customs declarations and re-used export seals to disguise unpaid duties.

The indictment also references “the attempted shipment of US$5.3 million in undeclared gold seized at Miami International Airport, and the alleged under-invoicing of a luxury vehicle valued at over US$680,000.”

In June 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Mohameds and Mohamed’s Enterprise for alleged tax evasion, trade-based money-laundering, and gold smuggling.

In March 2025, the Guyanese Government received a comprehensive dossier of evidence from U.S. authorities under mutual legal assistance arrangements. The documents reportedly contained evidence of falsified customs declarations, gold export irregularities and undeclared shipments seized in Miami.