CARACAS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government has captured seven suspects in its operation to dismantle groups smuggling gold and other valuable metals and minerals out of the country, Vice President Tareck El Aissami said on Friday.
"We have prevented the extraction of 2.5 tons of gold, which is the total amount of this material that these criminal organizations handled to smuggle," said El Aissami.
The Operation Metal Hands was launched on Monday, with arrest warrants issued for 28 others, he said.
The groups buy gold from small mining operations in southern Bolivar state and then "smuggle the material out of Venezuela through organized crime networks," said the vice president.
Earlier this year, Venezuela launched an operation against cash smugglers, called Paper Hands, and arrested 216 suspects and froze nearly 5 trillion bolivars (62.5 million U.S. dollars) in different bank accounts, 90 percent of which belonged to a single bank, Banesco Banco Universal.
On May 3, officials said they were taking over the bank's operations for 90 says, after finding financial irregularities.
Authorities have also seized 12 trillion bolivars (150 million U.S. dollars) in cash that were to be smuggled across the border into neighboring Colombia, where the bills can be sold for up to three times their face value.
The rampant smuggling "aims to deal a blow to Venezuela's financial system and the country's economic stability," said the vice president.
