National Security has arrested two senior employees of the Geological Survey Department to assist in investigations into the controversial export of gold from Ghana to Iran. Joy News has learnt that Dr Thomas Adu, Deputy Director of the Geological Survey Department, and Justice Adom, Senior Technical Officer of the Department, were picked up Wednesday after preliminary investigations and will be detained. The arrest follows reports of the detention of an aircraft in Istanbul, Turkey, allegedly carrying 1.5 tonnes of gold originating from Ghana and destined for the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was rumoured earlier that said shipment was part of a covert financial transaction between Ghana and the Islamic Republic of Iran, an allegation the government was quick to rebut. Initial investigations by National Security revealed that two Ghanaians – Peter Bedzrah and Fredrick Kojo Essumang – operating under the corporate identity of Omanye Gold Mining Ltd, which had no visible signs of existing as a corporate entity, were involved in a transaction to supply the gold to one Vahid Moradi Moghaddam in Turkey. A document signed by Dr Adu as part of the pre-export formalities at Kotoka International Airport described the cargo as “mineral samples” for “laboratory analysis only and of no commercial value.” However, the substance, which left the country only to be detained in Turkey, turned out to be gold bullion. The two Geological Survey Department officials are assisting with investigations.