20 Kg God Seized at Cochin Airport

19 September 2013
Kochi

Seizure of a record 20 kilos of gold worth more than Rs.6 crores from two women who arrived from Dubai at the Cochin International Airport at Kochi on September 19 proves the big rise in smuggling of the yellow metal to the country. The two burkha-clad women belonging to Thrissur in Kerala arrived in an Emirates flight at 5 am and were hiding inside their jackets.

On September 18 two Srilankan nationals who arrived from Dubai were arrested with 12 kilos of gold at Goa International Airport. God’s Own Country which has the largest migrant community -more than 25 lakhs- in the Gulf countries and three international airports is seen soon to emerge the “golden gateway” for smuggled yellow metal. According to customs officials at the Goa airport, the gold was meant to be taken to Kerala which has emerged as country’s “gold capital” now.

More than 50 kilograms of gold have been seized in separate incidents at  three international airports  at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, during the past 4 months. The rise in smuggling is seen as direct consequence of the hike in customs duty on imported gold jewellery from 6 to 15% during April-September.

Imports to the country were worth US $ 58 billion during 2012-13 as against US $ 38 billion the previous year. After petroleum products, gold imports accounted for the highest outgo of India’s foreign exchange. On account of the repeated hikes in import duty, India’s imports which stood at 845 tons last fiscal year is expected to fall by 100 tons in 2013-14.

Source– http://indiatoday.intoday.in/

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