Gold smuggling cases shoot up at Chennai airport

Chennai: Chennai airport is seeing a steady build-up of gold smuggling cases this year compared to last year.
Since April 2011, over 63 smuggling cases have been registered at Chennai airport against 45 cases last year.
A senior customs official said Sri Lankan nationals and Indian labourers returning from Malaysia were involved in most of the cases registered in Chennai.
The Lankans who had been arrested were smuggling gold to convert it into Indian rupee, which is twice in value compared to the Sri Lankan currency "And most of them wanted to use money to fund their medical treatment or shopping needs," a customs official said.
When Lankans sneak 24 carat gold to cash it in India, most of the gold found on passengers from Singapore were in the form of jewellery. The customs official said the smugglers were also using passengers who stayed more than six months abroad as couriers.
Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, commissioner of customs of Chennai airport and air cargo, said, "While it's trained carriers who smuggle gold ornaments from Malaysia, it's ordinary passengers and tourists who try to bring in gold without declaring it".
07/12/11 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

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Categories: airports Dec 2011