GEORGETOWN, Aug 19, 2011 (AFP) — Guyana’s police said Friday they have sent reinforcements to remote gold mining areas to counter an increase in crime as the precious metal has hit record prices above US$1,800 an ounce.

“It definitely has to do with the increased price for gold,” Police Commissioner Henry Greene told AFP after a string of robberies and murders, including a miner and his son killed in an argument over money.

Greene declined to say how many reinforcements had been deployed, but confirmed that two new police stations were under construction and that all-terrain vehicles had been sent in to aid the crackdown.

Most of those killed and robbed have been Brazilians, many of them working illegally in the lawless forests of the small South American country.

There has also been a rise in illegal firearms in the area, according to police, who believe they are being smuggled in from neighbouring Brazil and Venezuela.

Gold closed at a record US$1,863 an ounce in Asia on Friday, as investors flocked to the safe haven after weeks of market volatility driven by weak economic growth and the debt crises in the United States and Europe.

Gold has performed spectacularly over the last six years with returns in excess of 150 per cent — including annual returns of 28 per cent and 24.4 per cent in 2010 and 2009 respectively. The upshot is that more persons are engaging in the buying and selling of scrap gold.

In Jamaica, the illegal cash for gold dealers have gained quite a bit of notoriety — police say gang leaders give large sums of money to members who can be seen on the streets of Kingston in a bid to gather as much gold as they can.