Hyderabad: Post demonetisation, the smuggling of gold biscuits from Bangladesh has reached a new high. Demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are being accepted as payment for these bars. According to Kakinada Customs joint commissioner S. Narasimha Reddy, several gangs were operating on commission basis to pay demonetised notes for gold bars.
He said, “We are keeping a tab on these gangs particularly on trains coming from Kolkata and Guwahati. Customs with the help of railway police on Saturday could arrest one person carrying Rs 50 lakh cash during the checks conducted for nabbing gold smugglers. There are exchange gangs operating locally where they sell gold at Rs 45,000 to Rs 55,000 as against the market rate of Rs 28,000 to Rs 30,000 which is almost 50 per cent premium.”
Customs sleuths checked Coromandal Express in the morning. The modus operandi of the smugglers is that usually they don’t reserve tickets from Kolkata and after boarding the train pay off ticket collectors to reach Visakhapatnam, Rajah-mundry, Vijayawada and Secunderabad. I-T officials said they too have information on the gangs and will act if specific information is received.
A customs official said, “Earlier we had taken one Vijaya Raghavan into custody while he was coming from New Jalpaiguri with gold granules put in water. It was almost 5 kg gold.” Gold seizures have become a daily affair at Bangladesh airports after customs in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the country tightened the screws. Bangladesh customs department has officially announced that gold is smuggled into India in large quantities.
According to the BSF, there were several instances recently wherein gold bars were seized at the border. A BSF official said, “Gold from West Asia is brought to Bangaldesh and then to India. Gold biscuits are hurled to the Indian side from across the border by smugglers in some cases. We are keeping a vigil.”
