Nineteenth century gold ingot seized in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES // Argentine authorities have arrested two Paraguayans who tried to cross the border with a 19th-century gold ingot worth more than US$2 million, officials said Monday.

The ingot, which has been confiscated by Argentina’s tax authorities, weighed 25 kilograms and was stamped with the inscription “Central Bank of Paraguay — 1824.”

It is estimated to be worth US$2.27m (Dh8.33m) and may also be historically significant, said the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) in Buenos Aires.

The two Paraguayan men, who reside in Argentina, were transporting the ingot in a lorry across the bridge between the Argentine city of Posadas and Encarnacion in Paraguay when customs officers stopped them for a routine search.

They grew suspicious when the men became nervous, AFIP said in a statement. Using a scanner, they found the ingot hidden beneath a false floor under the passenger seat.

One of the men told authorities they had bought the ingot from a group of indigenous people for 250 million Paraguayan guarani, or about US$50,000, AFIP said.

Officials also seized about a kilogram of silver.

AFIP said it had informed the Paraguayan central bank and the embassy in Buenos Aires.

Paraguay, which gained independence from Spain in 1811, fought Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay from 1864 to 1870 in the conflict known as the War of the Triple Alliance.

Wealthy families in the war’s path often buried their valuables, planning to recover them after the conflict.

About 85 per cent of Paraguay’s men died in the war. Today, the landlocked country is one of the poorest in South America.

* Agence France-Presse