Customs authorities on their toes as smuggling of gold getting harder to catch

NEW DELHI: Here’s what Indian customs officials are keeping a close lookout for these days — chocolate wrappers, pen refills, staple pins, mobile phone batteries, even mud. That’s because the smuggling of gold — having become lucrative again in a throwback to the pre-liberalisation era — is getting innovative and harder to catch.

Smugglers are trying to keep one step ahead of officials by secreting gold in unlikely hiding places or camouflaging it in surprising new forms. Customs officials are keeping their eyes peeled for unconventional methods of bringing in the metal illegally amid much greater vigilance because of the steep duty on gold that’s imported through official channels.

“Gold is being brought in all being used to camouflage it in ways that ensure it is not detected at customs checks,” said a senior customs officer, adding that new methods of concealment are uncovered virtually every day. Gold has been discovered in mud, TV parts, henna.

“You cannot open all television sets… Catching smuggling through these methods requires specific intelligence as it is not possible to check all goods,” the official said. Besides, it’s virtually impossible to detect when concealed in mobile phone batteries or laptops. Customs officials say smuggling has increasingly become organised, like in the old days. But unlike the old days, the gold doesn’t come in the form of biscuits, as shown in countless Bollywood films of the 1970s and 1980s. Also, the gold is coming in through the airports rather than the sea route that was most used decades ago.

The official said more than 700 flights land in India every week from the Middle East, a known hub for gold smuggling, and it is not possible to body search all passengers and pick through their baggage.

Smuggling had almost come to a halt with economic liberalisation in the 1990s. But it resurfaced after import duties were raised to as much as 10% to contain gold imports that had caused the country’s current account deficit to balloon.