Indian taekwondo team investigated in Delhi after discovery of gold worth $35,000

Coach and 10 minors found with 667 grams of undeclared items from Bangkok

India has the highest demand for gold in the world, ranking above China and the US. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

A taekwondo coach returning to India with his young team from Thailand are being investigated on suspicion of smuggling gold worth $35,000.

The unidentified trainer and his 13 team members were stopped by customs officials at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, officials said in a Twitter post on Monday evening.

A search of the Indian coach, two others and 10 minors uncovered undeclared gold chains and rings weighing 667 grams.

The seizure came 24 hours after an Indian man was caught at Delhi airport with 216g of gold hidden inside a Thermos flask, shortly after arriving from Singapore.

Two other men were arrested at the airport on September 2 for smuggling 12 gold bars from Riyadh, weighing 1.4kg and valued at about $81,676.

Gold prices have drifted towards a six-week low in the face of tightening monetary policy around the world and rising global inflation.

Gold's value has historically risen in times of economic uncertainty when inflation is high and is seen as a stable long-term investment.

India has the highest demand for gold in the world, and ranks above China and the US, largely owing to its popularity as a gift for weddings or to pass on as a family inheritance.

Passengers are often intercepted carrying undeclared gold arriving from airports in the UAE, particularly from Dubai where there is a booming gold market.

India allows nationals to carry 20g of gold for men worth 50,000 rupees and 40g for women, duty-free.

Men can import up to 20g of gold worth no more than 50,000 rupees duty free. Female passengers are allowed to bring in 40g with a value of up to 100,000 rupees without paying tax.

Travellers who want to bring more gold into India must declare it on arrival at border control and pay import duty.

In July, the Indian government increased the import duty on gold to 15 per cent from 10.75 per cent as the rupee continues to weaken against the US dollar.

In addition to customs charges, the government levies a goods and services tax on the manufacturing and services of gold.

Anyone buying gold must pay GST, as well as charges, which add 8 per cent to the total cost.

Brazen airline smuggling attempts: in pictures

US Customs arrested this Fly Jamaica Airways cabin crew attendant, who was found to have 4kg of cocaine strapped to his legs and concealed under tights and trousers. The haul at New York's JFK Airport would have been worth about $160,000 on the street. Photo: US Customs and Border Protection

Police in Bogata, Colombia arrested this Canadian woman for trying to smuggle 2kg of cocaine on to a Canada-bound flight in September, 2013. The woman pretended to be pregnant and hid the drugs in a latex belly. AFP

This spectacularly conspicuous attempt to smuggle €30,000 of cocaine ended in arrest for a Colombian passenger in July, 2019. The man, 65, concealed one kilo of the illicit powder by gluing it to his head. He was caught when police noticed the height of his black toupee, when his flight from Bogota landed in Barcelona. Photo: Policia Nacional

Australian customs officers foiled this attempt to smuggle the party drug ecstasy into the country, concealed in a Mr Potato Head toy. Officers at Sydney International Mail Centre cracked open the Toy Story figurine and found 293g of the drug in October, 2007. AFP

Portuguese police released this image of multicoloured swim trunks with two brown rubber bags — supposed to look like buttocks — attached. The passenger who was wearing them was caught at the airport in Lisbon, off a flight from Belem in northern Brazil in February 2018. The fake buttocks contained enough cocaine for 5,000 doses. Photo: Portuguese National Police

Guatemalan smugglers were found to have scooped out the cream filling of dozens of vanilla wafers and replaced it with wraps of cocaine. US Customs and Border Protection arrested the Guatemalan passenger carrying them at George Bush Airport in Houston in April 2015. The nearly 2 kilos of cocaine would have a street value of more than $60,000. AP

Few airports in the world will let you through security without removing your shoes, due to the threat from terrorism and to tackle drug smuggling. Australian Customs discovered nearly half a kilo of heroin in the hollowed out soles of these shoes. AFP

Customs officers at Dubai's main airport foiled 155 attempts to smuggle 'talismans and black magic items', related to witchcraft and sorcery, in 2015. Officers said criminals take advantage of often vulnerable people with superstitions. Photo: Dubai Customs

In August 2019, 755kg of methamphetamine was found hidden under frozen cow hide from Mexico. The crystal meth was wrapped in aluminium foil and sandwiched among 18 pallets of hide that arrived in Sydney aboard a shipping container marked 'Salty Bovine Skin'. AFP

Crystal meth wraps are removed from inside hollowed out hardwood flooring at a warehouse in near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in April, 2017. The haul had been shipped from China and had a street value of $681m. AFP

London-based seafood salesman Gilbert Khoo was sentenced to jail at a British court in March, 2020 for smuggling live 'glass eels' to Hong Kong. He was caught with 200kg and the total haul between 2015 and 2017 was worth about $69m. Photo: National Crime Agency

Khoo, pictured holding two pieces of gold, was arrested after Border Force officers seized a consignment at Heathrow Airport. Photo: National Crime Agency

Dubai Police released this image of drugs in a hollowed out book. It was part of a consignment of two tonnes of drugs of various types. A multinational police operation tackled criminal activities related to drug smuggling and trafficking in Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Austria in November 2017. Photo: Dubai Police

A passenger tried to smuggle a whole roasted hog from Peru to Atlanta in November, 2016, for Thanksgiving. US Customs staff seized the hidden pig, which is banned by laws designed to prevent foot and mouth disease and swine fever. Photo: US Customs and Border Protection

Drugs are hidden inside a microwave as seizures are displayed at Dubai Airport in July 2019. Chris Whiteoak / The National

One of the largest drug busts in Dubai's history was made at Jebel Ali Port in May 2019. Sniffer dogs alerted officers to a shipment that was found to contain 5.7 million Captagon pills. Photo: Dubai Police

Captagon is a type of amphetamine originally used for attention deficit disorders, but was banned in the 1980s due to its highly addictive nature. Smugglers in Syria have thrived during the chaos of the war there, and many shipments have been traced to the Arab state. Photo: Dubai Police