Diamond smuggling in the Ivory Coast leads to $23 Million worth of diamonds to leave the country each year.
Tag: Metals and Minerals Smuggling
Information and data on the illegal smuggling of diamonds and minerals. Often referred to as blood diamonds, Havocscope collects statistics and news regarding this black market trade.
20 percent of Sierra Leone's diamonds were being smuggled out of the country in 2005
Source: Tristan McConnell, “Fighting diamond smuggling in Africa,” Christian Science Monitor, July 30, 2007,(accessed: July 31, 2007).
99.8 percent of world's diamonds are being certified as legitimate
Officials from Botswana, the world’s biggest producer of high-quality minerals, reported to participants of the Kimberley Process that 99.8 percent of the world’s diamonds are being certified as legitimate. (Environmental Crimes around the world.) Source: Moabi Phia, “Watchdog urged to crack down on Cote d’Ivoire,” Mail & Guardian Online, November 6, 2006,(accessed: November 13, 2006).
Venezuela has officially exported 0 diamonds
Although Venezuela is estimated to produce 150,000 carets of diamonds annually, it has officially exported none since 2005.
Illicit diamonds in the 1990s
In the 1990s, it was estimated that as much as 25 percent of the world’s diamonds were in some way illicit (used for money laundering, tax evasion, purchasing drugs, weapons and other goods, or were stolen).
Value of Diamonds for Criminals
Author Larry Kahaner reported on the value of diamonds as an illicit product. Kahaner stated that “Diamonds and other gemstones are perfect for moving wealth around they are small, hold their value, and are universally acceptable as barter, don’t set off airport metal detectors, and can easily be converted to cash.”