Odd $180k Theft from Royal Canadian Mint

An Ottawa court heard that Lawrence concealed several small nuggets – called pucks – out of the facility to a nearby shopping centre.

He deposited the checksBank employee in the Royal Bank in the same mall. Regardless, the case raises serious questions about the level of security at the Royal Canadian Mint.

For starters, Barnes said they can’t prove the gold is stolen, nor can they establish that the bullion once belonged to the mint. The Crown argued that Lawrence set off the metal detectors with an atypical frequency, though it was not unusual for employees to trigger the systems.

Of the possibility that the gold could be smuggled inside a rectum, they confirmed: “There was testimony from the security people that they had actually tested this on a human being”. He denies guilt and his lawyer described the Crown’s evidence as “circumstantial”.

Investigators then searched Lawrence’s locker where they found a tub of Vaseline, the Ottawa Citizen reports.

At least two other thefts from the mint by employees have been recorded in the past 30 years; the most recent was in 1996, when Richard Gauthier was caught trying to sneak eight gold bars out of the facility. Lawrence always passed the manual search, and apparently a security employee tested if the wand would detect gold hidden in a rectum and discovered it wouldn’t. Though the pucks were not stamped with identifying markings, the prosecution demonstrated that the nuggets matched a custom scoop the refinery uses to spoon molten gold.

“In fact, I would submit the Mint doesn’t even know if anything is missing”.

Ottawa Gold Buyers would take Lawrence’s gold, paying him around C$6,800 (US$5,161) for each puck, depending on fluctuating gold prices.

Lawrence was never caught in the act, which makes the case more hard to prove. His six day trial, before Ontario Court Justice Peter Doody, concluded on Tuesday.

“This is the Royal Canadian Mint, your Honor, and one would think they should have the highest security measures imaginable”, defense attorney Gary Barnes told the court. What type of monitoring and security does the mint have to prevent the theft of precious metals?

In a statement, a Mint spokeswoman said security measures had been upgraded, including security cameras in all areas and an improved ability to track their gold.