Mine worker arrested : A precious metal mine worker is behind bars after police caught him trying to offload high-grade ore in metropolitan Western Australia.
The Western Australia Police Force suspects a 38-year-old male, who works for a gold processing plant, illegally procured the commercial-grade gold before trying to sell it to a local pawn shop.
Theft and fraud charges
Officers told the Australian Associated Press the suspect failed to produce an acceptable form of lawful authority, resulting in him being charged with one count of stealing as a servant, another count of attempted fraud and a further two counts of fraud.
The accused will appear before Perth Magistrates Court on December 11.
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QMEB previously reported a separate case where a 30-year-old man from Camillo allegedly stole 67.5 ounces of gold (pictured) while working as a mill reliner for a mining services company between July 2015 and June 2019.
Investigators believe the suspect travelled to several gold mines where he allegedly came into contact with gold pieces either trapped under the mill liners or inside of the mill. Instead of allowing the pieces to be flattened into small nuggets during the processing stage, he is accused of removing them and selling the nuggets to different pawnbrokers and gold buyers across Perth.
The young mine worker was arrested and charged with workplace theft and police estimate he pocketed more than $81,000 from the sales.
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