A woman who smuggled gold worth more than Dh300,000 ($81,688) in her underwear on a flight from Sharjah was arrested by Indian police.
Officials at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport intercepted the passenger shortly after she arrived in India on a flight from the UAE.
She was trying to avoid paying the tax the Indian government levies on imported gold.
The authorities at IGIA, one of the country’s busiest airports, posted a short video on June 13 showing how 1.5 kilograms of gold paste had been concealed in the lining of several items of the woman’s underwear.
She was picked out and searched by officials based on passenger profiling.
In previous attempts by passengers to smuggle gold from the UAE into India the precious metal was hidden inside clothing, electrical appliances, concealed in the lining of baggage, dentures and even worn under wigs.
The route from Dubai to India is a popular one for smugglers trying to avoid paying duty on the gold they import.
India charges 10.75 per cent of the value of gold taken into the country, although there is no limit on the amount of gold that can be taken out of the UAE free of tax.
Gold is the number one commodity traded in Dubai.
In 2020 the value of gold traded in the UAE was about $57 billion, with 112 countries importing from Dubai.
-
This passenger who travelled on a Dubai to Delhi flight was found to have smuggled melted gold taped to his bald head. He wore a wig to conceal it. Photo: Delhi Customs -
Customs officers at Delhi airport on April 17 seized 15 gold bars concealed in the socks of a passenger who disembarked a flight from Dubai. The bars weighed 1,747 grams and would be worth more than $100,000, meaning the passenger was avoiding paying thousands of dollars in import tax. Photo: Delhi Customs -
Delhi Customs said a passenger who came off a flight from Dubai was found to have melted down this 443 gram bar of gold into a paste and wrapped it around his legs. Photo: Delhi Customs -
A huge gold chain was confiscated from a passenger who was wearing more than the permitted gold allowance. He was further found to have tried to smuggle several bars through Delhi airport to avoid paying thousands of dollars in import duty. Photo: Delhi Customs -
A customs officer tears open a hidden compartment of a suitcase to find a large amount of undeclared currency in Saudi riyals and UAE dirhams. The passenger, who landed in Delhi on a flight from Dubai, was detained. Photo: Delhi Customs
