A former employee at the Royal Canadian Mint has been accused of smuggling C$180,000 worth of gold out of the high-security facility by allegedly stashing it up his rectum.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, the court heard that on more than a dozen occasions during a four-month period, Lawrence brought Oreo cookie-sized gold nuggets to a local gold buyer. At a weight of around 210 grams, each chunk of gold would yield a cheque of around C$6,800 ($5,100), which Lawrence would then deposit at a nearby branch of his bank.
The regular deposits attracted the curiosity of a bank teller who wondered about the tens of thousands of dollars flowing into Lawrence’s account from the same gold buyer. Her suspicions grew after she noticed on his account profile that he worked for the mint.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was eventually alerted. The investigators reportedly found a bottle of vaseline in Lawrence’s locker but the Crown corporation for which Mint produces coins couldn’t prove he actually did it. However, they established this was the only way out.
Surprisingly, RCM didn’t even find out about the theft on its own. It was an observant bank employee who found out about Lawrence’s suspicious transactions. Reportedly, he used to sell the pucks to Ottawa Gold Buyers and they would pay him cheques depending on the price of gold. The banker noticed a number of such transactions, checked his profile and found out he used to work with the Mint. She then alerted the bank and the police.
Lawrence exercised his right not to testify in court. His lawyer, Gary Barnes, suggested his client could have legitimately acquired the gold from sources other than the mint. After all, he argued, it wasn’t the mint who first went to authorities with reports of a theft.
According to Ottawa News, defence lawyer Gary Barnes said, “This is the Royal Canadian Mint, your Honour, and one would think they should have the highest security measures imaginable. In fact, I would submit the Mint doesn’t even know if anything is missing.”
"In an emailed statement Tuesday evening, a Mint spokeswoman said several security measures had been upgraded, including high definition security cameras in all areas, improved ability to track, balance and reconcile precious metal, and the use of 'trend analysis technology,' ” according to the Ottawa Citizen. Win or lose, that seems like a good start.
