Gold seizures at Chennai airport drop by 50%

After an increasing trend in gold seizures at the airport over the last few years, the trend seems to be reversing.
Image used for representational purposes only.
Image used for representational purposes only.Express Illustration
Updated on
3 min read

CHENNAI: Gold seizures by Customs authorities at the Chennai international airport have reduced by half in 2024-25 compared to the previous year.

As per official data sourced through RTI, Chennai Customs seized around 310kg of gold worth Rs 166 crore in 560 cases from April 2023 to March 2024. The seizures dropped to 160kg of gold worth Rs 110 crore across 233 cases from April 2024 to March 2025. The number of arrests made by Customs authorities, however, increased from 72 to 106 over the past one year, the data show.

After an increasing trend in gold seizures at the airport over the last few years, the trend seems to be reversing. For instance, in 2022-23, Customs had seized around 250kg of gold, which was almost 25% more compared to 2023-24. Gold is usually smuggled into India from UAE and Southeast Asian countries.

Officials and those involved in the trade attribute two reasons to the drop — strict checking by Chennai Customs and reduction of gold import duty from 15% to 6% by the union government in July 2024.

“Gold smuggling has become a less lucrative business. The risk to reward ratio has dropped. The incentive for smuggling is the evasion of import duty and with the duty cut, trade margins have reduced,” said a senior official.

Smuggled gold a way to hide illicit wealth: Official

For instance, the latest price of 24 carat gold in Chennai is around Rs 90 lakh per kg, which means that the smuggling kingpin stands to earn around Rs 6 lakh per kg of smuggled gold. However, their actual profit is only around Rs 1-Rs 2 lakh, after payment of wages to carriers, receivers, and others in the chain like colluding airport employees, which is not worth the risk.

To improve profits, carriers must then smuggle bigger quantities in a single trip, which is riskier. Sources say the expenses on smuggling have also increased, with carriers demanding higher wages per trip. Usually, carriers are paid around Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 for smuggling 500-800g of gold, apart from a free air ticket and stay in the foreign country.

As a result of this, there have been two significant changes in the trade, Customs officials said. Firstly, carriers have started moving towards smuggling wildlife, electronics (drones and smartphones) and e-cigarettes, which is more lucrative and less risky.

Secondly, smuggling syndicates have started employing genuine passengers returning to India as carriers as they need to be paid a smaller commission. “This may also make detection by passenger profiling a bit more difficult,” an official said.

Striking a discordant note, a retired Customs official said that smuggled gold is also a way to hide illicit wealth in India and a drop in airport seizures would mean that it may be happening through other channels.

Traditionally, smuggling gold in bigger quantities has happened through the sea route which might need to be studied, the retired official added.

Other channels?

A retired Customs official said that smuggled gold is also a way to hide illicit wealth in India and a drop in airport seizures could mean it may be happening through other channels

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
Open in App
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com