Intelligence agency sounds 'alert' to check gold smuggling

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Intelligence agency sounds 'alert' to check gold smuggling.

Citing recent structural changes in import duty of gold by the Finance Ministry, the Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), which analyses and disseminates intelligence related to smuggling and customs duty evasion, has sent an alert to all international airports and customs check points to remain vigilant, official sources said.

They have been asked to intensify measures, including minutely scanning suspect passengers and commercial consignments to check smuggling of gold, the sources said.

The officials fear that the upcoming festive season, including Diwali and marriages solemnised between November and February, will push the demand for gold in the country, giving rise to its smuggling, they said.

There are 19 international airports in the country – Srinagar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Nagpur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Chennai, Calicut, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Port Blair.

Officials have been asked to be alert at international transit land routes, including Attari-Wagah border (Punjab) and Munabao Railway Station under Jodhpur (Rajasthan), among others, the sources said.

However, after noticing fall in prices of gold globally, the Finance Ministry had on September 2 reduced the import tariff value of the yellow metal to USD 458 per 10 grammes. Earlier on August 30, the tariff value -- base price on which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing – of gold was increased to USD 461 from USD 432 per 10 grammes.

The prices of yellow metal had touched an all-time high of Rs 34,500 per 10 grams in last week of August in the national capital. At present, 10 grams of gold cost about Rs 31,000 in Delhi's bullion market.

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India, the largest gold consumer in the world, imported 860 tonnes of gold in 2012. In the first four months of the current fiscal, the import rose by 87 per cent to 383 tonnes.