Gold Smuggling Incidents on the Rise in India

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): With the advent of festive season, gold smuggling incidents are seen on the rise in India. The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) under the Customs Department and Crime Intelligence Bureau (CIB) under Railway Protection Force (RPF) have seized crores worth gold and platinum from passengers at airports and trains.

The AIU officials arrested four persons at Mumbai International Airport for attempting to smuggle INR 1.86 Crores worth gold. One of them had carried the gold from Bangkok, which was handed over to the other three passengers to be transported to Delhi. Based on suspicion, personal checks were carried out on them, which led to recovery of gold worth the mentioned value in the form of pendants and chains.

In another incident at Odisha International Airport, the Customs officials detained a passenger who was allegedly smuggling around 170 grams of gold worth INR 5.5 lakhs. The passenger had arrived at the airport from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A team of CIB officials seized around 4.4 kilograms of gold and platinum jewellery from a person travelling by Duranto Express. The seized items were worth more than INR 1.31 Crores. The person was arrested on his failure to produce necessary documentary evidence or receipts related to purchase or possession of the items. The consignment, believed to have come from a Mumbai-based jewellery manufacturer, was later handed over to the IT department for further investigation.