Many believe that during World War II, the Japanese fascists plundered a vast amount of wealth. Due to the inability to transport everything back to Japan before surrendering to the Allied forces, Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita hid a portion of this wealth in various locations, including Vietnam.
Operation Golden Lily
According to Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave, authors of several research books about Japan, the operation to plunder wealth was organized on a large scale, involving both Yakuza mafia gangs, such as Yoshio Kodama, and the highest echelons of Japanese society, including Emperor Hirohito. The Japanese government aimed to loot properties in Southeast Asia to support their war efforts.
The Seagrave researchers claim that Emperor Hirohito appointed his younger brother, Prince Yasuhito Chichibu, to lead a secret organization named Kin no yuri (Golden Lily). The purpose of Golden Lily was to gather and secure gold and silver from the 12 Asian countries occupied by Japan.
In Nanjing (China), the Japanese acquired over 6,000 tons of gold, along with a plethora of cash and valuable artworks. In Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), they seized numerous gold bars of 23.97K, each weighing 6.25 kg.
In Cambodia, many golden Buddha statues and large gold bars were taken by Japanese forces. In Myanmar, thousands of tons of gold were plundered. In the Philippines, 51 tons of gold, 32 tons of silver, along with a substantial amount of gemstones, were also taken by Japanese troops.
According to various sources and accounts, the wealth was initially gathered in Singapore and then transported to the Philippines, from where it was intended to be sent back to Japan after the war ended. This operation was overseen by General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese commander in the Philippines, known by the nickname “Tiger of Malaya.”
However, as the Pacific War broke out, American submarines and fighter planes, along with their allies, blockaded the sea routes, leading to the sinking of many Japanese ships, some of which were transporting gold and silver. The Japanese were forced to bury their gold and silver in numerous locations in the Philippines and also in Vietnam.
The Lawsuits
On January 1, 1970, then-President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos claimed that his wealth came from the discovery of the Yamashita treasure. In 1992, his widow, Imelda Marcos, reaffirmed that her husband had found 4,000 tons of gold from the Yamashita treasure. Many believed this, while others argued it was merely a way for Marcos to legitimize his ill-gotten gains through corruption.
Gold hidden in many places.
Nonetheless, there were numerous lawsuits against Marcos demanding the gold allegedly unearthed from the Yamashita treasure. In the late 1990s, a group claiming to be the 16th Infantry Battalion of the Philippines sued Marcos for not sharing the spoils after helping him recover 60,000 tons of gold and precious gems between 1973 and 1985.
In 1999, Roberto B. Caoile, a spokesperson for the group, stated that the 16th Battalion was reestablished in September 1972 with the secret mission of excavating the Yamashita gold under President Marcos’s orders. According to Caoile, over 12 years of searching, the 16th Battalion unearthed about 30 of the 175 Yamashita treasure sites.
Earlier, in 1988, a Filipino treasure hunter named Rogelio Roxas filed a lawsuit against the Marcos couple for stealing the treasures he had found, which he believed to be the Yamashita gold. Roxas claimed he accidentally discovered a treasure trove containing a golden Buddha statue, which had a removable head that concealed numerous raw diamonds.
The news reached President Marcos. Roxas was arrested and tortured to reveal the treasure’s location. On the eve of the trial, Roxas died mysteriously, which many believe was orchestrated by Marcos.
The Treasure of Mount Tau
According to various accounts, a ship carrying Yamashita’s gold arrived in the Mount Tau area (Phuoc The Commune, Tuy Phong District, Binh Thuan) and buried the treasure there, estimated at around 4,000 tons of gold. Mr. Tran Anh, a resident of Lien Huong, Tuy Phong, recounted that his grandfather, Mr. Tran Mua, was the railway foreman at Vinh Hao Station around 1943-1944.
During this time, Mr. Mua noticed bright electric lights on Mount Tau and a large ship anchored offshore, with several Japanese soldiers guarding the transport of something to the mountain’s peak. He recounted this to his son, Mr. Tran Bang, who was the squad leader of the Liaison Security Team in Lien Huong. By 1970, Mr. Bang was ordered to protect four Americans who were helicoptered in from Saigon. These individuals used stakes to mark the site and then left the mountain by helicopter. After 1975, Mr. Bang took his son Anh to the mountain and personally drew a map.
This map was later handed over by Anh to Mr. Tran Van Tiep in Ho Chi Minh City, who dedicated 50 years to searching for the Mount Tau treasure. Mr. Tiep hired a professional team that used drilling machines, bulldozers, and excavators to search for this treasure.
Currently, Mr. Tiep, now 98 years old, continues the quest for the Mount Tau treasure. Recently, Dr. Vu Van Bang, a representative of Mr. Tiep, stated that the survey team had discovered the entrance to a cave containing the treasure: “The main treasure lies 45 meters deep into the mountain, with a nearly 100-meter-long access tunnel. However, the amount of metal is much less than the figure Mr. Tiep mentioned of 4,000 tons of gold.”
