Lanka now part of new gold smuggling route

Smugglers are now increasing routing gold to India through Sri Lanka  following increased surveillance of traditional routes, the ‘Ada Derana’ reported.

‘The Hindu’ newspaper reported that, according to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), quite a few consignments of gold seized in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu have been brought from Sri Lanka.

This shows that this is the new route for gold smuggling apart from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan as many of these countries have increased import duty on gold, forcing smugglers have to move to a new area.

DRI’s seizure data had estimated gold smuggling during April-October this fiscal year to be around Rs1.50 billion, up from around Rs0.75 billion in the same period last year. The number of cases also doubled to 100 during this period.

DRI is an intelligence and investigating body under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) which thwarts and prevents acts such as smuggling of narcotica, fake Indian currency notes, gold and commercial frauds.

Customs enforcement heads of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar will take part in a discussion on these issues which will be discussed by DRI at the Regional Customs Enforcement Meeting on Thursday.


 
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.