JOHANNESBURG (Commodity Online): And, finally the obvious is out in the open with a TV channel telecasting the notorious smuggling operations in Zimbabwe’s diamond mines.

SABC3, a leading TV channel in South Africa, aired an expose on Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa diamond fields, where security forces have killed hundreds of diggers and from where massive amounts of rough diamonds are smuggled out of the country and into the legitimate diamond stream.

The report claims that the murder of civilians at the hands of soldiers is ongoing. The programme says with the help of hidden cameras, the producers have documented the involvement of the army in the looting, trading and smuggling across the Mozambique border of rough diamonds mined at the diamond fields.

It further claims that the army has formed a syndicate that acts in defiance of the Kimberley Process by operating through the official Mineral Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe. Senior government officials and politicians have run a thriving illegal trade for personal profit.

The illicit system, run by security forces and fronted by middlemen, has smuggled an estimated $800 million worth of rough diamonds out of the country in the past year, relying on forced labour.

Going through the border town of Vila de Manica, the goods find their way to Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan and Europe, among other destinations, the documentary states. (Courtesy: IDEX Online)