Hyderabad: Customs officials seized gold at the Shamshabad airport from two female passengers, who arrived here from Dubai on Sunday. Over 726 grams of gold worth Rs 45.37 lakhs was seized from a woman passenger. The woman brought two chains, along with gold in the form of a paste, in the innerwear.
Another woman brought gold powder in a box of health drink powder for children weighing around 127 grams and its value is around Rs 7.77 lakhs. Two more women are being interrogated by customs officials.
Also read: DRI team seize 2.2 kg gold at Jaipur railway station; two smugglers held
On the other hand, gold smuggling is continuing unabated despite police and customs department officials taking strict measures at the Shamshabad Airport to curb the gold and drug smuggling. According to the police, smugglers are using the airport for gold smuggling and drug transportation. The smuggling cases that are being reported in the recent past are an indication that there was a rise in the cases.
It may be noted that most of the smuggled gold comes from the Middle East where the quality of gold is supposed to be good. The Middle East also accounts for almost 75 per cent of gold imported into India. Of late, gold smuggling has become a regular sight at airports.
The gold is being smuggled in order to evade taxes while smugglers use different techniques to smuggle gold. Apart from that expatriates and tourists legally bring as much gold as they can when they come from Dubai as the quality of the gold there is pure and the price is less when compared to India.
