Gold smuggling from Gulf sees a rise

Gold smuggling from Gulf countries has seen a spurt in recent months with the customs department at Lucknow airport seizing the precious metal worth ₹30 lakh from two passengers, who came here from Dubai in the last two days.

Gold smuggling from Gulf countries has seen a spurt in recent months with the customs department at Lucknow airport seizing the precious metal worth ₹30 lakh from two passengers, who came here from Dubai in the last two days.

The customs official said till some years back smugglers themselves used this route (Lucknow airport) for smuggling gold and cigarettes. (HT Photo)

In this February alone there have been four such gold seizures.

Assistant commissioner of customs, Lucknow airport, Niharika Lakha said although the smugglers were now using people working in the Gulf to push goods into the country, the alert customs officials were able to nab them because of the “constant monitoring and study of their changed modus operandi.”

Besides, the local intelligence unit staff are also helping the customs officials to check smuggling. “There have been cases of smuggling of cigarettes from these countries too,” Lakha said.

In January 2018 only two cases of gold smuggling were reported wherein precious metal worth ₹4.12 lakh was recovered. However, in January 2019 the customs department recovered gold worth ₹41.79 lakh in five different cases.

In February 2018 gold worth 4.36 crore was recovered in different cases, but till February 17, 2019 the customs department recovered gold worth ₹5.27 crore at the Lucknow airport.

Lakha said: “We have noticed that smugglers use people working in Gulf for pushing their goods inside India. However, with increased vigil and technology, the customs officials have been able to catch most of these carriers (smugglers) along with the smuggled goods.”

She added: “They are not only smuggling gold but foreign brands of cigarettes also, as the product costs much lesser in the Gulf than in India.”

In February 2018, the customs officials seized cigarettes worth ₹18.44 lakh while till February 15, 2019 they seized cigarettes worth 19.62 lakh.

The customs official said till some years back smugglers themselves used this route (Lucknow airport) for smuggling gold and cigarettes. But now when the customs department has increased its watch on such criminals, they have begun to use people working in the Gulf for smuggling their goods.

“However, the alert customs department is constantly foiling their bid,” she said.