In the biggest-ever seizure of smuggled gold at an Indian airport, gold bars weighing 20 kg were seized from two young burqa-clad women by Customs Preventive officials at Cochin international airport on Thursday.
The gold bars, valued at Rs. 5.8 crore, were concealed in specially-made jackets wrapped around the bodies by the women. The jackets were covered by the burqas. The women, aged around 25 years, had had flown in by an early-morning Emirates flight from Dubai.
Officials told
Customs duty
If imported through proper channels, the customs duty on the gold would have exceeded Rs 58 lakh. The Union Government had, with a view to discouraging gold imports, raised the import duty on gold to 10 per cent recently.
In the past six months, when the government progressively increased the customs duty on gold, there had been a spurt in gold smuggling through the airports. The contraband arrived mainly from Dubai, an international gold hub. The Customs at the Cochin airport alone seized 23 kg of gold valued at over Rs. 6 crores.
Largest seizure
Thursday’s was the largest seizure of smuggled gold anywhere in the country in the recent years, officials claimed. A smuggler able to evade the Customs officials’ eyes can make at least Rs. 3 lakh on just 1 kg of gold.
Associations of jewellers and gold merchants had warned that the increase in import duty would shoot up smuggling and hurt the gold jewellery. The government had two days back increased the import duty on gold jewellery from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. This was criticised by these associations as a giving a fillip to smuggling.
basheer.kpm@thehindu.co.in