New Delhi: Kannada film actress Ranya Rao was Monday arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport after she returned home from Dubai for allegedly smuggling almost 15 kg of gold on her person. Her bail application is set to be heard Thursday.
Gold smuggling is linked to import duties, government policies, and regulations. As import duties rise and gold prices increase, the smuggling market becomes more lucrative.
It was gold smuggling that was the main business of Dawood Ibrahim and the smugglers of the 1970s in Bombay, with “hawala” rackets and other criminal activities closely tied to it. That phenomenon has returned and seizures of gold have gone up in the last decade.
When gold import was legalised in 1992 by then finance minister Manmohan Singh, smuggling of gold dropped. However, from 2012 to 2023, gold duties have continuously increased, with smuggling making a comeback.
Of late, there have been many reports of airline passengers and crew being caught with gold hidden in suitcase wheels, children’s diapers or even in rectums. Much of the smuggling happens through the Myanmar border and fuels insurgency in the North-East.
However, last year, the BJP-led central government reduced gold duty to 6 percent and it is expected to go down further. This development is likely to curtail smuggling again.
In Episode 1618 of Cut The Clutter, Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta explains how government policies and gold smuggling are connected, and why the smuggling curse is back.