Elbasan Police has remanded into custody on Tuesday 2 Italian citizens, who are accused of having sold fake gold to some jewelers in Tirana and Podgorica, while targeting another jeweler in this city. 

Official sources informed that the arrested are citizens with initials F. M., 67 years old, resident in Naples, Italy and R. G., 76 years old, resident in Milan as they are accused of fraudulently selling other metals as gold grain, earning 200,000 EUR. 

After arrest, 3 kilograms of suspected fake gold, 160 grams of pure gold, 4 mobile devices, 1500 euros and 150 Swiss francs were seized as material evidence. 

Meanwhile, the investigative materials were passed to the Prosecutor's Office of the Elbasan Judicial District for further procedural actions on the criminal offenses "Smuggling with licensed goods" and "Fraud". 

"In continuation of the work to prevent, identify and combat the criminal activity of smuggling licensed goods and false declaration of citizens, through fraud, in relation to their nature, type and quality, as well as based on the information received in operational route, the specialists of the Economic and Financial Crime Investigation Section at DVP Elbasan organized and successfully completed the coded police operation "Fake Gold", as a result of which citizens were arrested red-handed: 

-F. M., 67 years old, resident of Naples, Italy and R. G., 76 years old, resident of Milan, Italy. 

From the investigative actions, it resulted that these citizens, in cooperation with each other, sold gold (metal) in the form of grains, worth 200,000 euros, in Tirana and Podgorica, during the period June-August 2022. The material that these citizens sold resulted then, mixed with other metals. 

As a result of the police operation coded "Fake Gold", 2 citizens were caught and arrested red-handed in the city of Elbasan, during the attempt to sell fake gold in a jeweler, where they had initially deceived by offering a small amount of pure gold", said the police.