KARWAR: Gold smuggling in the coastal region is increasing constantly as evident with from arrests made by the authorities. On September 20, 2020, a person from Bhatkal was detained at Kozhikode Airport in Kerala along with 50 grams of gold.
Later on January 7, 2021. two persons were held along with Rs 22 lakh worth Gold weighing 741 grams Jewellery at Mangalore Airport. On May 18, 2021, Gold weighing 262 gms worth Rs 13.17 lakh was seized from a person. On 25 August, 2021 illegal gold worth Rs 5.58 lakh was seized from another person.
The common factor in all these cases are accused all from Bhatkal. Bhatkal has been in the news frequently for wrong reasons for terror links and illegal immigrants. Every now and then, ATS and NIA personnel visit the tiny town which has become common nowadays.
The new addition to it is gold smuggling. According to the sources in customs, even a few incidents of illegal gold was detected even during Covid 19, when the Government of Indi a launched Vande Bharat Mission to evacuate the countrymen stuck in the Middle East.
The Police officials are of the opinion that these smugglers operate in teams in a very well organised manner in Mangaluru, Kannur, Bhatkal and Dubai. The smugglers have tried various methods to bring in Gold, like hiding in Chappals, hair bands, cloth drying wires and more recently in N-95 masks.
The Indian Government has permitted gold worth Rs 50,000 for men who have been abroad for about an year and for women it is Rs 1 lakh. In addition to it, people flying from abroad need to pay a customs duty of Rs 300 per 10 grams for gold and for gold jewellery it is Rs 250 per 100 gms.
Reacting to the increasing gold smuggling, Superintendent of Police, Shivaprakash Devraj said, “It is the duty of the customs to prevent gold smuggling at the airport. The ED will look into the cases of amassing huge amounts of gold.”
“The Police will step in only in case of illegal gold business. In case we bump across huge amounts of gold during our probe we will alert the ED or any other concerned authorities,” he said.