The Financial Intelligence Centre has put a figure on the illicit mineral trade it says it has traced. The Centre's Director General, Clement Kapalu, told a workshop in Lusaka on gold supply chain practices, held from an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing perspective, that the FIC has uncovered a mineral smuggling syndicate worth about K1 billion that operated between 2022 and 2024, News Diggers reported on Wednesday 4 November.
The mechanics, as he described them, ran in both directions. Foreign cash was smuggled into Zambia and used to buy copper, gold and gemstones that had been mined illegally; the minerals were then taken out of the country without the taxes due on them. The Zambian Observer, which reported the workshop on Tuesday 3 November, said the minerals were exported outside established customs procedures and that the syndicate also involved foreign currency allegedly brought into Zambia through illicit mineral dealings. Its report noted that it remains unclear who was behind the transactions and how the minerals left the country without customs clearance.
Gold rushes and extremist money
Mr Kapalu singled out unregulated gold rushes, giving the example of Mufumbwe, as the kind of event that gives rise to illicit markets, according to News Diggers. The Observer reported that he said Zambia's money laundering risk rating has moved from medium to high, and that he raised concern about suspected links between illegal gold mining and the financing of extremist groups in the region.
The link between gold and terrorist financing is not a distant problem, it's on our doorsteps.
— Clement Kapalu, Director General of the Financial Intelligence Centre, at a gold supply chain workshop in Lusaka, as reported by News Diggers on Wednesday 4 November
The Observer's report placed the remarks alongside calls from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Gold Council for tighter controls on mineral trading, including systems that trace gold from the mine to the point of sale. It also framed the FIC's concern as going beyond lost revenue to the growing role of criminal networks in the mineral trade, especially gold.
What the FIC said
- About K1 billion — value of the syndicate's dealings, 2022 to 2024
- Copper, gold and gemstones — bought with smuggled foreign cash from illegal miners
- Exported untaxed — outside customs procedures, by means not yet explained
- Medium to high — Zambia's money laundering risk rating, according to Kapalu
- Mufumbwe — the gold rush cited as an example of an unregulated market
No individuals or companies were named in either report, and neither said whether the findings have been passed to investigators or what, if anything, has followed. The figure lands in a week when the Treasury has been emphasising fiscal discipline ahead of Friday's budget.
Sources: News Diggers, “FIC uncovers K1bn mineral smuggling syndicate” (4 Nov 2026); Zambian Observer, “K1 Billion Mineral Smuggling Scandal Exposes Gaps in Zambia's Mining Sector” (3 Nov 2026).