Arising out of concerns raised by the Stabroek Business regarding the progress being made by the authorities in rolling back the smuggling of gold out of Guyana, a source with several years of experience of the sector has told this newspaper that the continued outflow of gold from Guyana and (mostly) into neighbouring countries is almost certainly occurring with the “full knowledge” of “people in authority” in Guyana. The source told this newspaper that he was not inclined to “go into specifics” on the issue and said that given his own understanding of what he described as “the workings of the sector” it was not “reasonable to believe” the gold smuggling, “open” as the practice is, could “continue uninterrupted” without the knowledge of the authorities. “I believe that the practice continues because there are people who want it to stay that way. There are good reasons for them to ignore it,” the source added. He said that there is “so much money” to be made from gold smuggling that it is not easy to stop the practice.