Gold smuggling in India breaks all records, crosses Rs 1000 crore

History has been scripted but not for good reasons. Gold smuggling is at all-time high in India as seizure in illicit trade has crossed Rs 1,000 crore mark in one financial year.

In 2014-15, customs, police and revenue agencies seized more than 3,500 kg of gold, whereas in 2012-13, the same figure stood at merely Rs 100 crore with just about 350 kg gold seized.

Economic Times reported that in two years, since government increased duty on gold to 10% to rein in a yawning current account deficit, gold smuggling grew by 900%. That as an accepted principle seizures could be less than 10% of actual smuggling, the figures look even more ominous.

Sources told ET that gold had begun to be smuggled in ever unique ways and unexpected corners.

Meanwhile, an unexpected drop was seen in Nepal which had seen a massive spurt in gold smuggling in the past couple of years as the kingpin of illicit trade in the Himalayan nation died in the recent earthquake.

The financial daily reported that Nepal, which normally sees seizures of around 80-100kg of gold a year saw the figures more than double in 2013-14, due to rise in duty of gold import in India.

The increase was explained by agencies as smugglers pushing in gold from Dubai, Thailand and China into Nepal to be brought to India as traditional channels were
being more vigorously monitored.

"It's one positive fallout of a massive tragedy. The deceased was the main conduit who coordinated illicit trade from various countries and helped push them into India. Just before Nepal quake, 40kg gold was seized in Silliguri in West Bengal. It came from Nepal. Since then, seizures have been almost negligible," an official from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) told the financial daily. The official, however, acknowledged that as long as duties remained so high in India, someone else would replace him.

Sources told ET that smugglers were exploiting all possible routes to push in gold which has now begun coming from the Morey border in Manipur, Kandla port in Gujarat, Bangladesh border in West Bengal and the old tested routes of Sri Lanka to ports in Chennai and various airports from Dubai and Thailand.

Smugglers are even using courier parcels to send in gold. "This is, however, camouflaged. The courier is of a torch where the batteries are made of gold. Of mixer which has golden blades. Of a transistor which has a capacitor in gold," a DRI official told ET while detailing how only recently agencies caught 60 kg gold at Delhi airport brought in through courier in this manner.

(Image: Indiatimes)