With rise in border duty to import gold to India, Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has seen a spurt in cases of gold trafficking via the aerial route. The Airport Customs Department has arrested 10 traffickers in the last month for possessing gold worth crores and much beyond the country's permissible limits.
Department sources inform that there has been over 400 per cent hike in the border tax levied on importing gold to India. According to the taxes levied at present, one has to pay 8 per cent tax on gold bars, while 10 per cent on gold jewellery. “To avoid such heavy taxes, gold has been brought stealthily in the country via air route,” said a senior official.
According to officials, most of the passengers travelling with huge quantities of gold were travelling to India from Bangkok and Dubai. They said that the two cities encourage purchase of gold products. According to sources, any tourist can purchase gold in the cities without any identification proof by showing his/her pan card. Also, due to no export duty on gold in foreign countries, the air travellers possessing huge quantities of gold are not scrutinised at these airports.
Department officials informed that with the spurt in number of such cases, they have stiffened the security arrangements at the Delhi Airport. The intelligence staff is keeping strict vigilance on the passengers travelling from Bangkok and Dubai. "It is being observed how many times a flier travels to these two cities and what the purpose of their travel is. The department is preparing a list of such air travellers. Apart from this, special attention is given to check the baggage of the fliers arriving from the two places," added the official.