Legal Smuggling of Gold?
'LEGAL' and 'Smuggling' are contradictory words but it seems the smugglers have found out a way to legally smuggle gold into the country.
An eligible passenger landing in India is entitled to import 1 kg of gold on payment of duty. The smugglers have found out that even after paying duty and fees for carriers, there is still a huge margin.
The method is simple - ask every passenger to carry a kg of gold - pay him a lakh of rupees for this service, ask him to pay duty at the Indian airport and collect it from him outside the airport - perfectly legal.
It seems in a recent flight to Calicut almost every passenger was found to be carrying one kg of gold each. And every passenger would be happy to carry that one kg of gold when he gets paid a lakh of rupees and the activity is risk free.
If the Customs is vigilant, the next few months are going to be rewarding.