‘Achhe din’ has come for gold smugglers – smuggling increased by 900% in one year

The Modi government is swearing by its tag line of ‘achhe din’ and while everyone is stung by the bug of high prices, one really wonders when the common man will see the first light of the so-called ‘achhe din’ – for those who do not know the meaning of ‘achhe din’, it translates into ‘good days’.
However, if a newspaper report is to be believed, it seems one section of people has already entered the zone of ‘achhe din’ – they are the gold smugglers. For the first time in the history of gold smuggling in India, the seizure of the yellow metal has gone beyond the Rs 1,000 crore mark in one financial year.

It has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimesofindia.com dated 27 May 2015 that customs, police and revenue agencies have seized in excess of 3,500 kg of gold in 2014-15. By contrast, the corresponding figures of 2012-13, were hardly Rs 100 crore with just about 350 kg gold seized. Obviously, thanks to Modi government, gold smuggling has increased by 900% within one year.
Authorities have identified certain routes through the yellow metal is smuggled in – these are the Morey border in Manipur, Kandla port in Gujarat, Bangladesh border in West Bengal and the old tested routes of Sri Lanka to ports in Chennai and various airports from Dubai and Thailand. Moreover, smugglers are using camouflaged courier parcels. Some examples - a torch where the batteries are made of gold, or a mixer with golden blades or a transistor which has a capacitor made of gold.
(Image source wikimediacommons.org)


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18 cases of gold smuggling reported in Ahmedabad Airport in four months

#goldsmuggling #ahmedabadairport Gujarat, the state that gave us Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is supposed to be a city where crimes are at a minimum because of the strict administration that is believed to be in place there. However, in this same city, gold smuggling has increased.
As many as 18 cases have been intercepted in the four months of 2015 by the Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) who have recovered 22.87-Kg of the yellow metal worth Rs 6.17 crore at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. This is despite the relaxation by the central government in restrictions on import of gold.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 21 April 2015.

During 2012 and 2013, only 5-Kg and 10.7-Kg of gold respectively was seized by Customs at airport and, this has suddenly shot up to 54.82-Kg in 2014 and has reached 22.87-Kg in the first four months of 2015. This would give an impression that the smugglers have become more bold and daring and probably feel they can hoodwink the Customs.
The observation is that most cases of smuggling have been detected on the Dubai-Sharjah-Doha route.
It would be interesting to note that in August last year, Customs department had formed a special Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) to handle gold smuggling cases. The AIU had two commissioner-level officers and, after the formation of this unit, detection rate has increased but it has not been able to curb smuggling of gold.

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