By Ricardo Brito and Luis Jaime Acosta

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil’s Federal Police can trace whether gold came from an illegal mine in the Amazon rainforest, and investigators told Reuters they are expanding the program to other countries, hoping to catch more criminals who are trying to escape Brazil’s tightening enforcement by smuggling gold across borders.

Gold prices have surged to record highs this month as political uncertainty around the world has pushed investors to seek safe havens. Rising prices are a powerful incentive for those illegally mining the precious metal in the Amazon rainforest.

The Brazilian program catalogues “gold DNA,” the metal’s unique morphological signature, to connect each piece of gold police seize from suspects to environmental damage caused by illegal m

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