Biggest Gold Heist in History?

[OROBTC]

...

Over the past week or so, Zero Hedge has broken a huge story, not reported ANYWHERE in the Western MSM about a company called Gold.AE, a BIG gold trader that looks like it was helping Turkey smuggle gold to Iran via Dubai.  The connections of that company, and related companies (very complex) run right up to the second most powerful man in the UAE.

And now the gold is gone!  It is apparently a LOT of gold, though upon my first reading they did not say how much was missing...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-01/trail-dubais-stolen-gold-client-breaks-silence-and-fascinating-detail-emerges

One of their tentacles has even reached Peru (map of the company's activities worldwide is at the ZH article), they apparently helped fund gold mining (Peru is No. 6 in world gold production).

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[Libya and Ukraine may have had their national gold stolen in the past three or so years under other murky circumstances...]

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[Confirmed]

How ironic, ads for BitGold all over that page..

[masterzino]

Not sure is it the biggest one, but it's in a TOP for sure.
For general Heist record - nobody can beat Madoff

[dloghwak]

That's why you hold the coins / bars yourself.

[DimensionZ]

And I thought gold was impossible/hard to smuggle given its size and weight haha.

[HarizDB]

That is one big heist, the biggest, not sure, but indeed spectacular.

[Etoiliste]

yeah in lybia many gold was stolen and traded for weapons bye Guedhafi himself and Rebels

[OROBTC]

That's why you hold the coins / bars yourself.

Yes.  + $55,000

Ann Barnhardt (ex-commodity broker, she commented extensively on ultra-sleazy Jon Corzine) said (bolding mine):

"Anything that is on paper anything that involves a promise or a commitment is no longer valid because as we said there isn’t a rule of law anymore. People can steal from you. Your money can be confiscated. And think how easy now it is to confiscate people’s wealth. Most of our wealth in this society exists as zeroes and ones on a computer server. It takes no effort whatsoever to steal zeros and ones on a computer server. So what I have been telling people is you need to get into physical commodities. And the rule of thumb is if you can stand in front of it with an assault rifle and physically protect it, then it's real—it's a real commodity."

Link from 2011:

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/2011/12/02/ann-barnhardt/interview-transcript

Ms. Barnhardt has her own chatty and irreverent (but reverent in its own way too) blog here:

http://www.barnhardt.biz/

[Denker]

That's why you hold the coins / bars yourself.

Absolutely right!
If you don't hold it, you don't own it.Simple is that.
But many people are dumb or just "lazy".

[calkob]

That's why you hold the coins / bars yourself.

But many people are dumb or just "lazy".

Or just afraid of securing them themselves?

however i get your point i would not trust my gold or silver or bitcoin to anyone else.

[OROBTC]

That's why you hold the coins / bars yourself.

But many people are dumb or just "lazy".

Or just afraid of securing them themselves?

however i get your point i would not trust my gold or silver or bitcoin to anyone else.

You need a good place (or places) to hide your gold/silver/platinum.  At least so "the kids" or casual visitors don't find it.  Even better if you have a really good hiding spot, or a safe bolted to a concrete floor.

My favorite humorous suggestion that I read is storing your gold in the frozen spaghetti sauce there in your freezer...

The "Ann Barnhardt Option": having lead (and lead delivery devices) handy.  <--- Recommended if your wife will let you... 

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I like the Trezor and Ledger Nano for storing my larger amounts of BTC.  blockchain.info wallet and mobile for small amounts ("lunch money").

[The Sceptical Chymist]

OROBTC, zerohedge is worth its weight in cow manure and has been a source of disinformation for so long that I've lost track of their BS.  They're basically a mouthpiece for the (economic disaster)-->(buy my precious metals) crowd that is constantly predicting doom and spouting off about how we need to stock up on gold and silver.  It's never a bad time to buy, right?  And meanwhile precious metals have been in the tank for years now.  Be wary of that site, sir.

[cellard]

How ironic, ads for BitGold all over that page..

lol I think its because the algorithm automatically puts ads judging by the content of the articles, so the ads are related to what the user is reading.
About gold and it trading to Iran.. well let the conspiracy theories begin.

[OROBTC]

OROBTC, zerohedge is worth its weight in cow manure and has been a source of disinformation for so long that I've lost track of their BS.  They're basically a mouthpiece for the (economic disaster)-->(buy my precious metals) crowd that is constantly predicting doom and spouting off about how we need to stock up on gold and silver.  It's never a bad time to buy, right?  And meanwhile precious metals have been in the tank for years now.  Be wary of that site, sir.

Well, I'm a gold guy (and BTC of course), but thank you for your respectful opinion.  For me, it's perfectly OK (recommended even) to have 5% of your (net) wealth in gold.

ZH is FULL of anti-Semites and Putin Bootlickers, very true.  Too many ads, although I have not gotten around to installing adblock (etc.).

But, they have broken some stories ahead of everyone else (like this one, especially if it's true, LOL).  I am wary of too much CNBC & Bloomberg finance news.  I like reading lots of stuff, even if I have to be extra wary as you suggest.

[Kprawn]

It just shows gold has a few flaws too... How much gold have been stolen in jewelry store robberies and from people's houses or on them, whilst they wearing it? The more

valuable a commodity, the bigger the target grows for theft like this. We have also seen how governments made it a criminal offense for people to own gold. Everyone are

poking holes into Bitcoin, but one of the oldest commodities on earth are full of flaws too. 

[markj113]

It just shows gold has a few flaws too... How much gold have been stolen in jewelry store robberies and from people's houses or on them, whilst they wearing it? The more

valuable a commodity, the bigger the target grows for theft like this. We have also seen how governments made it a criminal offense for people to own gold. Everyone are

poking holes into Bitcoin, but one of the oldest commodities on earth are full of flaws too. 

Take a look at the "scam accusation" thread on this forum.

For a small community its currently at 104 pages and growing daily, Bitcoin is a magnet for scammers and thieves.

[DimensionZ]

It's a magnet for scammers and thieves because it's very easy to be loaned out to people and unlike other financial instruments the transactions are irrevocable so most of the time people take it and off to the woods.

[pitham1]

And I thought gold was impossible/hard to smuggle given its size and weight haha.

Gold is one of the most popular items to smuggle, in areas where there is high import duty.
Gold is very dense and therefore its weight-size ratio is quite favourable for smuggling.