内容摘要：new visa interview appointments for foreign students and exchange visitors, according to an internal cable seen by news agencies.

new visa interview appointments for foreign students and exchange visitors, according to an internal cable seen by news agencies.

Gold Mafia, a four-part series by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit () based on dozens of undercover operations spanning three continents, and thousands of documents, also shows how government officials and businesspeople are profiting off the illegal movement of gold across borders.

The investigation reveals how billions of dollars’ worth of gold is smuggled every month from Zimbabwe to Dubai, allowing criminals to whitewash dirty money through a web of shell companies, fake invoices and paid-off officials.The investigation also shows how Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is systematically using gold smugglers to get around the chokehold of Western sanctions imposed on the country. The money laundering and gold-smuggling schemes involve one of Zimbabwe’s most influential diplomats, and go all the way up to the president and his circle.The smugglers include millionaires, one of whom was accused of almost bankrupting Kenya through a similar, corrupt scheme also involving gold.

Gold smuggling, money launderingPosing as criminals from China looking to launder over $100m, Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters managed to gain access to these smugglers and gangs.

Zimbabwe is a key player in these operations. Gold accounts for

— over $2bn — of the country’s exports. But the nation faces a strict international sanctions regime, and even though its gold trade is not in itself banned by the West, the broader strictures against Zimbabwe make it harder to export the precious metal through official channels.On a recent Friday afternoon, Sejong’s wide streets were mostly quiet, a world away from the bustling alleyways of downtown Seoul.

At the city’s express bus station, a number of government workers were waiting on a bus to take them to the capital.Kevin Kim, a 30-year-old civil servant, travels to Seoul for the weekend at least twice a month.

“My family, friends and girlfriend are in Seoul,” Kim, who has lived in Sejong for nearly two years, told Al Jazeera.“I have to go to Seoul, as all the big hospitals are there.”