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From Home Appliances to Paste Form, Cartels Try to Hoodwink Sleuths to Smuggle Gold to India

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New Delhi (Sputnik): India’s apex probe agency had recently arrested a former employee of a foreign diplomatic mission and her accomplices for smuggling 30 kilograms of gold through diplomatic channels. The state government of Kerala has also suspended a senior officer for his allegedly helping the arrested woman.

India's Customs authorities, who are responsible for assessing duties and taxes at the country's ports of entry, have stepped up anti-smuggling activities, after the arrest of three persons in Kerala for allegedly smuggling 30 kilograms of gold through diplomatic channels.

An internal note by Indian Customs has asked its preventive teams deployed at airports and seaports to be more careful about all types of gadgets and high-tech tools to see that gold is not hidden in its cavities.

Customs officials have recently come across ingenious ways of smuggling contraband drugs and gold through automatic iron presses, handheld drilling machines, and even COVID preventive gear.

On Friday, 17 July, officials from Indian Customs recovered 10.22 kilograms of gold, concealed in household appliances from six passengers at the international airport in Amritsar, northern Punjab. The passengers had flown in from Dubai on two flights meant to evacuate stranded Indians there.

“Our team of officers at the airport intercepted five passengers on Thursday and one passenger on Friday. The passengers adopted a unique modus operandi by trying to smuggle gold worth Rs 5 crore in home appliances like iron, drill machines, and mixer grinder etc", said Deepak Kumar Gupta, Customs Commissioner at Amritsar Airport in a statement.

Even as an investigation into the smuggling of gold through diplomatic channels and surveillance was stepped up at international airports in Kerala, the Customs authorities noticed newer ways of bringing in the contraband.

On 12 July, the Customs Office in Kochi, Kerala said they had seized 2.96 kilograms of gold compound from four passengers coming from Rasa Al Khaimah, UAE.

​On the same day, they also seized 2.637 kilograms of gold in compound form from six passengers coming from Dubai.

​Earlier this week, Customs officials in New Delhi recovered contraband narcotics concealed in a consignment of N-95 face masks. On Friday (17 July), contraband narcotics worth over $40,000 concealed in computer servers were seized from passengers coming from the US.

According to the All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council, gold smuggling is expected to go up during 2020 as import duties on the yellow metal have gone up 12.5 percent.

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