NEW DELHI: Delhi has pipped Mumbai as the economic capital of India—according to the latest data released by Oxford Economics—but the national capital is the third most preferred transit point for currency and gold smugglers.
Since demonetisation was announced on November 8, Mumbai airport has emerged as the biggest transit point for smugglers followed by Kolkata.
According to data, the Central Industry Security Force—the agency responsible for airport safety—has seized 19.5 kg of gold and Rs 6 crore in cash from passengers passing through Delhi’s two airports—a rate of one flyer a day in almost 30 incidents.
Around 100 kg of gold and over Rs 12 crore in cash have been seized from over a dozen passengers from Mumbai in the first three weeks of note bandi.
Figures compiled between November 8-December 2 showed a haul of 162 kg of gold from all airports. Kolkata yielded almost 20 kg of the yellow metal, but just around Rs 6 crore in cash. Data showed black money holders started couriering cash just two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the invalidation of the higher denominations. In the first instance of seizure on November 10 in Delhi, one passenger was found with Rs 15 lakh. Next on December 12, another passenger was caught carrying Rs 70 lakh in cash.
In Mumbai and Kolkata, gold and cash were seized only a week after Modi’s announcement. On November 15, two flyers were held in Mumbai with Rs 2 crore in cash and four others fell into the net later in separate incidents, yielding almost Rs 14 crore worth of gold and Rs 11 lakh in cash.
Guwahati seems to have been a haven for black money smugglers; CISF nabbed Rs 68 lakh at the airport in 37 different incidents. No gold was found on any of them.