110 kg gold seized this year: officials

Around 110 kg of gold has been seized from smugglers at the Indira Gandhi International airport, New Delhi, in the first ten months of this year.

The number of cases registered this year till October is slightly more than 2016's figure. However, the quantity of smuggled gold is less when compared to last year.

According to officials, 114 cases of smuggling were registered by the customs between January and October at the airport this year which led to the seize of 110 Kg of gold valued at Rs 37-crore and 62 people arrested in their involvement in the cases.

Last year, there were 110 cases in which 188 kg gold, which was valued at Rs 48 crore, was seized. In these cases, 79 people were arrested.

Officials credit the decline in smuggling of gold to demonetisation and said that gold smuggling is not a preferred way these days due to demonetisation. Earlier, gold was used for 'hawala' transactions and it is negligible now, they claimed.

They said they have stepped up surveillance at the airport to check smuggling, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation last November.