RCMP: Former Canadian mint worker smuggled out $180K by hiding it up his butt

According to RCMP investigators, Leston Lawrence would make 210g "pucks" of gold using the mint's "dipping spoon," hide them up his butt, then pawn them for about $6,800, at the Ottawa Gold Buyers in the Westgate Shopping Centre, depositing the cheques at a Royal Bank in the same mall.

They say that Lawrence triggered the metal detectors more than any other employee save those with medical implants, though subsequent hand-wandings and searches never turned up any metal. A teller at the bank alerted the RCMP, who opened Lawrence's safe-deposit box and found four more pucks. A search of Lawrence's locker turned up a jar of vaseline. A mint employee was directed to attempt to recreate the feat, lubricating an identical puck and inserting it into their anus, which apparently worked fine.

Lawrence's defense says that there's no way to prove that the gold originated with the mint, which had not reported any gold to be missing.

Investigators also found a container of vaseline in his locker and the trial was presented with the prospect that a puck could be concealed in an anal cavity and not be detected by the wand. In preparation for these proceedings, in fact, a security employee actually tested the idea, Barnes said.

Canadian Mint employee accused of smuggling $180K of gold in his rectum

[Kelly Egan/Ottawa Citizen]

(via Super Punch)