Chinese nationals arrested with bars and $800,000 cash in Walungu

Three Chinese nationals have been arrested with 12 gold coins worth $800,000 (£650,000) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.

The gold and money were hidden under the seats of the car they were riding in, according to Jean Jacques Purusi, the governor of South Kivu province.

He said the construction of these people was hidden recently after the release of a group of Chinese nationals accused of running a gold mine in the area.

In eastern DR Congo there are many deposits of gold, diamonds and minerals used to make batteries for mobile phones and electric cars.

This mineral wealth has been stolen by foreign groups since colonial times and is one of the reasons why the region has been affected by instability for the past 30 years.

Gangs control most of the mines in eastern DR Congo and their leaders get rich by selling them to middlemen.

Purusi said some of these precious metal dealers had good relations with prominent people in Kinshasa, and therefore the construction of these new people had to be kept quiet.

He said that they have only been warning them and the gold and money were only found after a thorough search of the car in the Walungu area which is close to the Rwandan border.

He did not say exactly how much gold was seized.

Last month, the governor told reporters that he was surprised to learn that 17 Chinese nationals, who were arrested on charges of running an illegal gold mine, had been released and allowed to return to China.

He added that this is hindering the process of cleaning up the well-known minerals sector in DR Congo.

They owed $10m in taxes and fines to the government, Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

The Chinese ambassador has not said anything about it.

The arrests come as fighting continues in the nearby province of North Kivu, where a A Rwandan-backed terrorist group has seized large swathes of territory.

last month, DR Congo said it is suing Apple in the use of “blood mines”, which led the expert to say that he stopped receiving goods from the DR Congo and the neighboring country of Rwanda.

Rwanda has denied that it is a channel for illegal mining from DR Congo.

In their lawsuit, lawyers representing the Congolese government said that mines taken from war zones were “laundered through international chains”.

“These services have fueled violence and conflict by funding armed groups and terrorists and have led to child labor and environmental damage.