Law enforcement agencies in Uzbekistan's Navoi region have dismantled an illegal “gold mining ring” that had launched industrial-scale extraction on state-owned land during a joint special operation by the State Security Service and the Interior Ministry.

The scheme was organized by the head of a company based in the Karmana district. Officially, the firm was registered as operating in the sports sector, but in reality it had covertly turned a one-hectare plot into a secret industrial mining zone, The Caspian Post reports via Uzbek media.

Investigators said the group established a full production cycle to extract precious metals, even hiring foreign specialists. The seized site contained a fully equipped chemical laboratory and four pools filled with special reagents used to refine gold. Authorities noted that the operation bypassed all legal requirements, violating tax, environmental, and land-use laws.

The scale of the underground business was confirmed by evidence seized during the raid. Officers recovered more than 17 kilograms of gold-silver alloy, 20 kilograms of semi-finished material, and 250 kilograms of enriched coal. In addition, the site held massive stockpiles of raw materials-over 280 tons of gold-bearing sand and ore ready for processing, along with 230 liters of chemical reagents.

All seized materials have been sent for forensic examination, and preliminary investigations are currently underway.