Bolivia’s gold export system has become a key channel for laundering illegally mined gold, much of it sourced from the Amazon and sometimes smuggled in from neighbouring countries. Export companies frequently exploit the country's weak tracking mechanisms and self-declared documentation system to disguise the origins of gold. In a high-profile case, Goldshine SRL was caught in 2020 attempting to smuggle 331kg of gold worth US$18 million to Dubai using falsified export documents. Though the company’s owner, Amit Dixit, was under investigation, authorities later returned the confiscated gold and allowed him to export an additional 278kg before he fled the country. While US buyers once dominated Bolivia’s gold imports, they were largely replaced by buyers in India and the United Arab Emirates after US authorities began cracking down on illicit gold imports and increased scrutiny on origin verification. In contrast, Indian and United Arab Emirates buyers are known to pay quickly and ask few questions, providing an attractive market for exporters seeking to offload suspect gold.