As prices for the precious metal soar, the industry’s guardrails have broken down.

Officers denied that an illegal, large-scale gold operation was underway within earshot of their posts. But we had seen it with our own eyes.

The U.S. Mint is legally required to sell only legal, domestic gold. Instead, it is the last link in a chain that launders foreign gold for an insatiable market. Our reporter Justin Scheck traced one such supply chain: from an illegal mine in Colombia all the way to the Mint’s facilities in West Point, N.Y.

The Times visited a village where the United States and Ecuador said they destroyed an armed group’s training camp. Residents said it was actually a dairy farm.

Politicians in Colombia have increasingly become targets of violence. A rise in kidnappings, death threats and assassinations has shaken the country ahead of the vote.