Mint worker 'stole £100000 in gold by shoving it up his backside'

The trial of Leston Lawrence, a 35-year-old Canadian man accused of stealing $180,000 worth of gold from the mint where he worked, ended on Tuesday and it was finally revealed how Lawrence allegedly got all of that gold out of the Royal Canadian Mint in the first place. He supposedly set off the metal detector more than other employees as a result of the extra metal he was, uh, carrying.

Court records obtained by the Sun alleged that Lawrence sold 18 gold pucks - each weighing 7.4 ounces - were sold to Ottawa Gold Buyers between November 27, 2014, and March 12, 2015. The allegation was that pucks were being smuggled out of the mint by inserting them in the anal cavity.

Lawrence is accused of selling the gold over a four-month span at a gold buyer's shop and then cashing in big cheques at a bank in the same mall.

In his defense, Lawrence's lawyer argued the evidence was circumstantial.

Nearly every time he tried to leave the facility during this period, Lawrence sounded the metal detectors and was patted down by a security guard-a routine typically reserved only for employees who had metal implants or surgical devices that would give the body scanners a false alarm.

Indeed, the question of how nearly C$180,000 in gold could have been smuggled out of a government facility does remain. Regardless, the case raises serious questions about the level of security at the Royal Canadian Mint. The Royal Canadian Mint reportedly didn't even notice the gold was missing.

The case was also an illuminating look at security measures inside the mint, the building on Sussex Drive that produces hundreds of millions of gold coins annually for the federal Crown corporation.

Prosecutors alleged he could have used the lubricant to hide the gold in his anal cavity. After noticing that Lawrence worked at the Mint she alerted the RCMP. When that happened, the procedure was to do a manual search with a hand-held wand, a search that he always passed.

"Understanding that there are limitations to searching individuals for privacy reasons, the mint uses the latest technology and we have updated several security measures", she said.

Investigators posited that he used a little ingenuity and some Vaseline.

Lawrence was terminated following the incident, but Justice Peter Doody reserved decision on the case until November 9.

Court was told that, on multiple occasions, Lawrence took small circular chunks of gold - a cookie-sized nugget called a "puck" - to Ottawa Gold Buyers in the Westgate Shopping Centre on Carling Avenue. In the meantime, physical security has been tightened up at the mint.