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Detectives have launched investigations into reports that a consignment of gold and 6120 carats of diamond from Kenya was impounded at an airport in Ethiopia.

Transnational organized crime detectives say preliminary reports indicate the consignment originated from Kenya and was destined for Laos in South east Asia.

The probe was launched barely two weeks after Stephen Tarus, a former assistant minister was arrested in Uganda last week on charges of smuggling 13 kilograms of gold into the country using forged documents.

Tarus, a one-time Assistant Minister for Internal Security, was subsequently arraigned before an anti-corruption court and remanded at Luzira Prison.

The probe in Addis Ababa was prompted by reports that the cargo had originated from Nairobi and had been flagged by UN officials on suspicion that it was smuggled goods.

The exporting company, according to investigators, is based in Nairobi.

Documents forwarded from Harare revealed that the consignment had been moved to a Middle East country but was returned at the point of entry.

After the cargo was rejected entry into the Middle East, the exporters made a fresh attempt to re-export the same cargo through a different route.

This time round, the cargo found its way to Ethiopia.  At the time of interception, the cargo was destined for Bangkok and eventually into Laos, according to movement documents forwarded to the police.

Uganda media reported that Tarus was caught with forged Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) documents on a gold consignment.

In Nairobi, detectives from the elite Operation Support Unit (OSU) have been cracking down on illicit gold deals.

Last December OSU officers conducted an operation in Nairobi Kileleshwa estate where they managed to arrest one suspect and recovered 15 boxes containing fake gold cargo.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers attached to the Operations Support Unit (OSU) said they had been tipped off about the godown that also had almost a ton of assorted shoes.

Mid last year, lawyer Tom Otieno Ngoe and businessman  Nicholas Otieno were charged in a Nairobi court with defrauding an American businessman of Sh132 million in a fake gold deal.