The Police have cleared HP3 Global Limited and its director Peter Ntege of any involvement in gold smuggling.

“Our investigations have determined that HP 3 Global Limited and its director Peter Ntege were not part of a group that was involved in gold smuggling. We have closed their file,” a police statement said.

However, the Police said investigations against Luis Francisco Martinez, an American on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s watchlist were still going on.

“We are still investigating the case whereby we suspect there’s an extensive network of people who deal in gold and are connected to the American drug lords. We are following them and anytime we will burst their racket,” Police said.

It is suspected that an international syndicate is smuggling gold out of East Africa to clean the proceeds acquired from the drug operations in Mexico and the United States. 

Their operations are disguised through several companies in the United States of America under the management of Edward Lee Hinojosa, a trained accountant from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The same group is under investigation for aiding M23 rebels fighting the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 400 kgs of gold believed to be supplied by the M23 Rebels was intercepted by United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities recently.