Three Chinese nationals were arrested with 12 gold bars and $800,000 (£650,000) in cash in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.
The gold and money were hidden under the seats of the vehicle in which they were traveling, according to Jean Jacques Purusi, governor of South Kivu province.
He said the operation to arrest the men had been kept secret after the recent release of another group of Chinese nationals accused of operating an illegal gold mine in the region.
Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has abundant reserves of gold, diamonds and minerals used to make batteries for cell phones and electric vehicles.
These mineral riches have been plundered by foreign groups since the colonial era and are one of the main reasons why the region has been plagued by instability for 30 years.
Militias control many mines in eastern DRC and their leaders enrich themselves by selling them to middlemen.
Purusi said some of these precious metals dealers had good relationships with influential figures in the capital, Kinshasa, and that was why the mission responsible for making these latest arrests had to remain silent.
He said they acted on a tip-off and that the gold and silver were only found after a careful search of the vehicle in the Walungu region, not far from the border with Rwanda.
He did not specify the exact quantity of gold seized.
Last month, the governor told reporters he was shocked to learn that 17 Chinese nationals, who had been arrested on allegations that they were operating an illegal gold mine, had been released and allowed to return to China.
He said this undermined efforts to clean up the DRC’s notoriously troubled mining sector.
They owed the government $10 million in taxes and fines, he said, according to the Reuters news agency.
The Chinese embassy has not commented on the allegations.
The arrests come as fighting continues to rage in neighboring North Kivu province, where a Rwandan-backed rebel group has seized large areas of territory.
Last month, DR Congo announced it was suing Apple over its use of “blood minerals”, prompting the tech giant to say it had stopped sourcing from DR Congo and neighboring Rwanda.
Rwanda has denied being an export conduit for illegal minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In their lawsuit, lawyers representing the Congolese government claimed that minerals extracted from conflict zones were then “laundered through international supply chains.”
“These activities fueled a cycle of violence and conflict by funding militias and terrorist groups and contributed to forced child labor and environmental devastation,” they said.
