The glitter of gold makes men do strange things. This is as true now as ever.
Ever since the Indian government raised the import duty on the yellow metal from 8% to 15% earlier this year to protect the interests of small artisans, attempts to smuggle gold into the country have increased exponentially. Some of these have been chancy, some downright foolhardy.
A total of 350 kilogram of gold, approximately worth Rs 90 crore in the international market, has been confiscated at the country’s airports so far. Last year, the figure was 200 kilogram.
Here are five attempts at gold smuggling this year that stand out:
August 9: Gold bars weighing about 6 kilogram, and worth Rs 1.6 crore, were found hidden in four bathrooms at the Ahmedabad airport. The cleaning crew found the bars taped under five toilet seats.
October 14: An Air India passenger travelling from Dubai tried to smuggle in 750 gram of gold, valued at Rs 20 lakh, in the form of staple pins. A customs official said the flyer was probably under the impression that metal scanners cannot differentiate between steel and gold. Unfortunately for him, they can.
November 9: About a kilogram of gold worth Rs 26 lakh was found in a passenger’s microwave upon his arrival at the Delhi airport from Dubai. The gold was disguised as transformers. An unusual reading on the X-ray scanner gave him away.
November 17: Two passengers from Dubai tried smuggling in 1.6 kilogram white gold, worth Rs 42 lakh, stuck under stickers on their bags. Customs officials, already suspicious of the flyers, got intrigued because the stickers were unusually thick.
November 19: A smuggler left gold bars, weighing 2.9 kilogram, concealed between a seat and its cover on an Air India flight from Sydney. The customs official said the smuggler probably had an inside contact in the airline to help him recover the gold later. But to his bad luck, the flight, instead of operating thereafter on a domestic route as scheduled, got sent to Frankfurt and from there to Sydney. The bars were found by the cleaning staff between the trips.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
Ever since the Indian government raised the import duty on the yellow metal from 8% to 15% earlier this year to protect the interests of small artisans, attempts to smuggle gold into the country have increased exponentially. Some of these have been chancy, some downright foolhardy.
A total of 350 kilogram of gold, approximately worth Rs 90 crore in the international market, has been confiscated at the country’s airports so far. Last year, the figure was 200 kilogram.
Here are five attempts at gold smuggling this year that stand out:
August 9: Gold bars weighing about 6 kilogram, and worth Rs 1.6 crore, were found hidden in four bathrooms at the Ahmedabad airport. The cleaning crew found the bars taped under five toilet seats.
October 14: An Air India passenger travelling from Dubai tried to smuggle in 750 gram of gold, valued at Rs 20 lakh, in the form of staple pins. A customs official said the flyer was probably under the impression that metal scanners cannot differentiate between steel and gold. Unfortunately for him, they can.
November 9: About a kilogram of gold worth Rs 26 lakh was found in a passenger’s microwave upon his arrival at the Delhi airport from Dubai. The gold was disguised as transformers. An unusual reading on the X-ray scanner gave him away.
November 17: Two passengers from Dubai tried smuggling in 1.6 kilogram white gold, worth Rs 42 lakh, stuck under stickers on their bags. Customs officials, already suspicious of the flyers, got intrigued because the stickers were unusually thick.
November 19: A smuggler left gold bars, weighing 2.9 kilogram, concealed between a seat and its cover on an Air India flight from Sydney. The customs official said the smuggler probably had an inside contact in the airline to help him recover the gold later. But to his bad luck, the flight, instead of operating thereafter on a domestic route as scheduled, got sent to Frankfurt and from there to Sydney. The bars were found by the cleaning staff between the trips.