This reverse trade is conducted between Eritrean military officers stationed near the border and their counterparts in Tigray. They claim the officers opt to smuggle gold into Tigray rather than surrender it to the administration of Isaias Afwerki or their commanding officers in Asmara.

Source: The Reporter
NewsChanging Tide: Shire Emerges as Hub for Gold Smuggled from Eritrea, Sudan
Changing Tide: Shire Emerges as Hub for Gold Smuggled from Eritrea, Sudan
August 16, 2025
Long a center of Tigray’s gold trade, the northern town of Shire has transformed into a hub for a gold smuggling network that stretches across Ethiopia and into neighboring countries. An investigation conducted by The Reporter found that gold of varying quality is smuggled into Shire from as far off as Congo to be mixed with high quality bullion that is then eventually sold off to the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).
Read more: Booming cross-border gold smuggling by the Eritrean and Tigrayan military