this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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412
Smugglers melted and spray painted $10 million in gold to look like machine parts (www.popsci.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
43 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Go to all that work and then get found out by using shitty spray paint.

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[–] [email protected] 124 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Now that's good. I wonder how they got caught.

...technicians removed the motor casing and found a rotor “wrapped in a cord wheel which was tied to tape.”

“It was not similar to a normal motor,” he added.

After examining the rotor, authorities found traces of glue at both ends of the machinery part. Using a hammer, they then tapped the part and “noticed unevenness,” indicating the metal was far more malleable than it should have been. Scraping away at an outer layer of silver paint showed flecks of gold.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Yeah somebody snitched. Airport security isn't going to disassemble an air compressor and start hitting things with a hammer.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You haven't seen how they've inspected my guitar and a shitload of imported things over the years lol

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago

Eh, your fault for having a guitar made of gold

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

Hong Kong, it's outgoing cargo. I have no idea.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

It probably looked odd on the x-ray scan so they looked closer, it was probably more the tied on parts than the bad paint that drew initial attention

[–] [email protected] 34 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You'd think the first clue would be that gold is 2.5x heavier by volume than steel and is 7x heavier than aluminum.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I did the math lower down:

Probably don't notice when you're using a forklift.

My math says that's 133 kg of gold. Not all that much. If you replaced the metal volume, the additional weight is approx 81 kg.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

2.5x heavier by volume than steel

reading that hurted my brain... just say denser 😣

[–] [email protected] 65 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They found $5 million in gold, how weird.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I wonder if 2.5 million in gold with be enough for prosecution.

[–] TalesOfTrees 16 points 7 months ago

Gold? Looks like machine parts to me. If they're just laying around like that, they're obviously scrap and we all know recyclables go out on Wednesdays so let me just haul those out to the curb for you.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I mean it's $1 million in gold that's plenty illegal.

[–] Tar_alcaran 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Exactly, 500k is a very serious crime!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

And to think that the total of 250k weighs only just above 3kg. Hope that doesn’t dosappear is some pockets.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Yeah, I'm sure any judge would convict you for smuggling half a million in gold.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Reading the article, the paint was the last thing they tested after all of the other indicators. Not sure how a more expensive/higher quality of paint would have made any difference at that point.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

It's the fact that used it as part of the ruse that makes it newsworthy

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago

They even put the parts back in the original air compressor. Hilarious.

[–] Gloria 20 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This is the first time I hear about such a case. Imagine how many times it actually did work in the last decades. More effort and this would have gone through like the others.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I don't know if gold smuggling is actually a big thing. Compared to all the other stuff that's actually plentiful and smuggled a lot.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Yeah, customs doesn't inspect every single item going though. Wonder is they considered just labeling it as lead bar and spray painting, although that would rely on regular shipments of lead bar going from HK to JP and inspectors not looking too closely as lead bar shipments.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Isn't gold also heavy?

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago (3 children)

It is.

They screwed up making them look like machine parts. They should have made them look like tooling. Tungsten carbide cutting tools and inserts are almost the same density as gold. They are frequently coated in titanium nitride, which is gold-colored.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 7 months ago

This guy smuggles gold

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Finally, an end mill that won't break!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago

A shipping crate gets mislabeled. A box of "tungsten carbide" drill bits gets routed to a warehouse, then distributed out to various Harbor Freight locations.

People buy them, and they get dull and break upon use, and the people throw them out and swear they'll never buy Harbor Freight junk again.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

I'll try next time when I smuggle my gold.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Probably don't notice when you're using a forklift.

My math says that's 133 kg of gold. Not all that much. If you replaced the metal volume, the additional weight is approx 81 kg.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Is iron not heavy?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Gold is 2.45 times heavier than iron by volume. https://www.theworldmaterial.com/density-of-metals/

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

I mean, recently someone found the mother of all software vulnerability attacks because their login took half a second longer than it should. Steel being 2.5x heavier than usual sounds like an easy spot compared to that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Did not know that. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Tungsten carbide and gold are about the same density. Tungsten carbide is about 3 times as dense as iron/steel. Steel is about 3 times as dense as aluminum.

If you're expecting a steel part and come across a gold (or carbide) one, you'll know it immediately, just as you'd know a steel part from an aluminum one.

[–] ryathal 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Not compared to gold. Gold is about 3 times heavier per unit of volume.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I done learneded. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Why did they not just electroplate it

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Because gold weighs a ton due to its density, and they're idiots for thinking they could trick anyone weighing or x-raying the parts.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Fair, but that's an issue with the concept, not the execution. If they're going to go through all this effort to cast gold into machine parts, why would they use spraypaint?

Also I have no reference but I feel like if you plated this in tungsten you could get past customs. If they ask why its so heavy you could just say it needs to be heavy for a specific usecase so it's made of tungsten, though I admit I have no idea what tungsten plated gold would look like on an xray, or if tungsten electroplating is even possible.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

They did a variant of Goldfinger's smuggling technique?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

They should have tried not getting caught