Stop the gold and copper exports!

20.MAY.11

Editor: A year and a half ago, three male juveniles were walking along a track at the back of my house when one apparently pointed to my house and said to the others “gold must dey in dey”. One of them jumped the fence and peeped into the window and said to the others “flat screen TV dey, so gold must dey!”.{{more}} With that, they broke into my house vandalised my kitchen and bedrooms and stole my daughter’s gold jewelry which she has been collecting since birth. It was not a very expensive collection, but they had more sentimental value than cash value.

According to the police, who apprehended the teenagers the next morning, the youths had already sold the jewelry to the “Cash for Gold” “Fly by Night” operators at the Kingstown Bus Terminal, and by the time they tracked down the South American, he had already flown back to St. Marteen. The youths got $200 or $300 for the gold, and with that they purchased 3 buckets of KFC!! My daughter’s sentiments for “30 Pieces of Chicken”!!

Yesterday, my mechanic went to our Stone Crusher located on the outskirts of Kingstown and discovered that someone had cut off every single piece of heavy-duty electrical cable from the crusher and broken into the Storage Container and stolen other items. These electrical cables are not available locally and are very expensive since they carry three-phase current and they are armoured (they have several layers of insulation and an outer steel cable for protection against accidental damage etc). The thieves have since removed and discarded all this extra protection to get to the copper cores inside, and this copper may have since been sold to the Scrap-Metal Dealers as “scrap copper”. The thief may have gotten $3 or $4 per pound for the copper, whilst the cost of replacing the cables may run between $10 and $20 per foot!! One piece of the cable would have cost about $1200 and he may have gotten less than $100 for the copper from it!!

The “copper” problem has become so wide-spread that all the Utility and Electrical Contracting companies are being affected as well as Public Safety! They are now stealing the Copper Ground Wires from the Vinlec poles! Maybe after someone is accidentally electrocuted, something may be done about this situation. There are other cases of the entire electrical wire harnesses from trucks and construction equipment being completely ripped out and melted down to get the copper. Radiators and other items are also known to have been stolen for the “scrap aluminum”.

I am publicly calling on the Ministries of Trade and National Security to put an immediate stop to the export of Gold and Copper. St. Vincent was not blessed with Gold and Copper deposits. Therefore, I can not see how we can be exporting these items. It is said that the “Upholder is Worse than the Thief”. If there is no market, then there will be no incentive to steal. I cannot comprehend how a foreigner can come into St. Vincent, stand up in plain public view in Little Tokyo and shout “Cash for Gold” and be allowed to buy gold from juveniles without any proper documentation and then be allowed to leave the state with possible stolen goods. I further cannot comprehend how Metal Scrap Dealers can be allowed to purchase “scrap copper” from questionable individuals with no proof of ownership and then legally export them through our Customs.

I beg the authorities to investigate and put an end to these practices.

Silvanus Francis