LED TV or dumbbells: gold finds a way in

Instances of gold smuggling have gone up and carriers are getting increasingly desperate, find Customs officials

July 12, 2014 04:26 am | Updated 04:26 am IST - Chennai

Illustration: Satwik Gade

Illustration: Satwik Gade

From tea powder and LED television to iron box and dumbbells, nearly anything and everything is used to smuggle in gold into Chennai.

According to Customs officials at Chennai airport, instances of gold smuggling have gone up considerably, and carriers are getting increasingly desperate.

Earlier this week, two passengers who arrived from Dubai concealed gold inside Vaseline containers and a television transformer.

A while back, a passenger removed speakers from 10 mobile phones and inserted in those cavities, gold coins painted in metallic colours.

Then, there was the case of 1.5 kg gold furtively hidden inside a steel hammer, says the official.

In the first three months of this financial year alone, 135 kg of gold have been seized at the airport. This is a quantum jump from 196 kg of gold seized in 2013-14, says an official.

“Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are usually the places from where gold is smuggled into the city. There are artisans in Dubai specialised in concealing gold for smuggling,” says the Customs official. “We detain some passengers on suspicion and others based on Intelligence inputs. While checking baggage, we hold back containers or bags that are unusually heavy, and detain the passenger,” says another official.

The sudden swell in gold smuggling began early last year when the import duty on gold was hiked to combat current account deficit, he says. “Systematically, over the years, the duty has been increased from one per cent to 10 per cent now,” says the official.

Apart from migrant workers, carriers operating for cheap, one-time pay-off are engaged to smuggle gold. The kingpins even use WhatsApp messenger to identify agents and work in coordination with them, says another Customs official.

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