Between financial years 2011 and 2014, the worth of gold seized by India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has risen more than fourteen times to Rs 250 crore, according to government statistics. But the seized amount--about 1 to 1.5 tons — is a mere pixel in what is a largely blurred picture. The World Gold Council estimates gold smuggled annually into India at a staggering 150-200 tons!
till now, the modus operandi of the smugglers has changed and so have their profiles and social strata. "While earlier they either wore gold or hid chunks in shoe heels or watches, now they bring gold plated small items such as spoons or belt buckles to large ones as compressors," says K.N Raghavan, commissioner at the customs department of the Kochi Airport.
He adds the articles are mostly factory made, so there is no way to detect tampering. Between April-December 2013, customs officials seized about 200 kilos of gold from three airports—Kochy, Trivandrum and Trichy--in the state, compared to just 10 kilos last year. The three airports together handle about 8,300 inbound international passengers everyday.
08/03/14 Debabrata Das & Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
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till now, the modus operandi of the smugglers has changed and so have their profiles and social strata. "While earlier they either wore gold or hid chunks in shoe heels or watches, now they bring gold plated small items such as spoons or belt buckles to large ones as compressors," says K.N Raghavan, commissioner at the customs department of the Kochi Airport.
He adds the articles are mostly factory made, so there is no way to detect tampering. Between April-December 2013, customs officials seized about 200 kilos of gold from three airports—Kochy, Trivandrum and Trichy--in the state, compared to just 10 kilos last year. The three airports together handle about 8,300 inbound international passengers everyday.
08/03/14 Debabrata Das & Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
