Seizure of smuggled gold at record high of 3,917.52 kg in Jan-Oct

New Delhi: Seizure of smuggled gold rose to a record high of 3,917.52 kg in January-October this year, according to the data shared by the government in Parliament. As many as 4,798 cases of gold smuggling were recorded till October 2023, and the quantity of gold seized stood at 3,917.52 kg, according to the data shared by Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Rajya Sabha.

The data revealed that 3,502.16 kg of smuggled gold was seized in the country in 2022 and 3,982 smuggling cases were detected. In 2021, 2,383 kg of smuggled gold was seized and 2,445 cases detected while in 2020, 2,155 kg of smuggled gold was seized and 2,567 cases were detected.

Chaudhary said: “To deter smuggling, customs field formations and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence keep constant vigil and take operational measures such as passenger profiling, risk-based interdiction and targeting of cargo consignments, supply chain interventions, non-intrusive inspection, rummaging of carriers, including aircraft, and keep coordination with other agencies. Field formations are regularly sensitised to new methods of smuggling.”

To a question on whether the involvement of foreign nationals working as syndicate along with the Indian citizens in the smuggling has been reported, he said seven cases of such involvement have been reported since 2020.