India Finds New Gold Smuggling Route

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India has such an insatiable appetite for gold that smugglers are finding new ways to avoid the 10 percent import duty and sneak the precious metal into the country illegally. By avoiding the duty and meeting the high demand, gold smuggling now ranges from swallowing nuggets to hiding bars in dead cows, according to NDTV.

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In one case, a gold exporting firm tried to bypass restrictions by using a tax-free special economic zone. However, the owner of the firm was arrested when police stopped a car trying to take 25 gold bars, worth about $1 million, out of that zone.

The ministry of commerce, which is in charge of special economic zones, did not reply to any requests for comments. This new scheme reveals that there are more complicated and sophisticated strategies being made by smugglers to take huge profits on gold in the domestic market by not paying the import tax.

However, all 185 of these special economic zones are now vulnerable to gold smuggling activities.

The World Gold Council estimates that 150-200 tonnes of gold illegally entered India last year. You can read more about this here.

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