Gold smuggling in India gets tougher to trace

Indian customs officials are tackling a tougher situation of tracking gold smuggling, reports say. It demands that they search for varied and unique materials and articles these days like chocolate wrappers, pen refills, staple pins, mobile phone batteries, mud, television parts, henna, some of the mediums how gold is being smuggled, reports add.

In the current scenario of high import duty on gold, the customs officials are making extra vigilant efforts to spot the unique methods of smuggling in the yellow metal. They have been witnessing new innovative methods very often, those where the article of material is not ‘detected at customs’, reports add. Not all mediums like television sets, batteries and such, can be opened and traced for gold smuggling, making it difficult for the officials. Much of the gold seems to be smuggled through the airport, according to the officials, reports add.

In the same vein, a man as arrested recently with allegations of smuggling gold bars worth around Rs 22 lakh into India at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), reports say. The officials have seized the gold and arrested the accused. He was intercepted by customs officials after arriving from Dubai to the IGIA. A baggage search revealed eight gold bars of 940 gms and a value of Rs 22.43 lakh," reports add.