Smugglers on a gold rush through KIA

Gold smuggling is on the rise at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) despite installation of high-end scanners and heavy deployment of Customs officials.

Sources in the Customs Department said 35 cases of gold smuggling have been detected and booked from April to July this year.

In 2013-14, 84 such cases were detected, and gold worth Rs 22.33 crore were seized. According to a Customs official, the smugglers' modus operandi include hiding gold biscuits in the rectum, in microwaves, compressors, cups and saucers, belt buckles, and making boxes out of gold.

They also use some innovative ways to bring in the yellow metal illegally. Sometimes, the gold is melted into seed-shaped chips and hidden in dates from Dubai, or ground into granules and mixed with other metals to look like ore.

“A majority of the carriers are from Kasaragod in Kerala, Alipur in the Gauribidanur taluk of Chikkaballapur district and Ullasnagar in Maharashtra. Strangely, many women carriers have been caught from Ullasnagar,” a top Customs official told Deccan Herald.

“Gold smuggling is on the rise in the country due to the high cost of the metal as compared to the international market. An estimated 700 kg of gold is smuggled into India every day. There has never been such a sharp rise in contraband gold in the last two decades,” he added. 
 
The officials said gold smuggling has become increasingly difficult to contain. The smugglers employ travellers as carriers, and use international and domestic routes.

In some cases, it was found that the carriers would smuggle gold into the country and hide it below the window seat of their flight, and disembark in Bangalore. Another carrier would book the same seat as a domestic flyer on the same flight, and walk away with the gold to avoid Customs screening.

“In recent cases, it has come to light that the carriers get an air ticket reimbursement and Rs 25,000 cash for carrying smuggled gold. There is a syndicate behind smuggling which chooses Indians to carry the metal. If a smuggler spends Rs 50,000 on a traveller to carry Rs 30 lakh worth of gold, he saves anywhere around Rs 3 lakh as Customs duty,” said the official.