(IDEX Online) - Authorities in Angola have seized 6,579 carats of rough diamonds in a crackdown on illegal mining and immigration.
Nineteen cars and $275,000 in cash were also confiscated, according to the government-run Angop news agency.
Operation Transparency was aimed at more than 700 small diamond prospectors in the country. Two thirds were found not to meet the interior ministry's requirements and only 260 have been allowed to carry on prospecting.
The government also deported many migrant working in diamond mines from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, a move that attracted sharp criticism from the independent Human Rights Watch.
The operation was launched in the north-eastern Lunda Norte Province December 2018.