By Sanjeev Kumar Patro
.... Odisha emerging as a carrier State in the lucrative illegal yellow metal trade
Bhubaneswar: In the illegal glittering trade map, Odisha seems a baby compared to its neighbour, or in the country as a whole. But of late, the gold smuggling trade in the State is seemingly growing at a break-neck speed. At least, if one go by the data available with Director of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
As per DRI sources, the illegal trade of the yellow metal has grown leap and bounds in the State since the last three years. A cursory glance at the data available with DRI reveals the following.
- YEAR 2020 – 0.82kg
- YEAR 2021 --- 0.00kg
- YEAR 2022 --- 2.21kg
- YEAR 2023 ---- 3.54kg
(Upto October)
A tally of the total gold seizures made in Odisha in the last five years amounted to little over 6.7kg, whereas the cumulative gold seizures made in the country totalled to a whopping 3,917kg. Thus, Odisha accounted for a paltry share of mere 0.17% of the country’s illegal glittering trade. This shows Odisha is just a fringe player in the country's gold smuggling map.
Illegal Gold Runs, Fly too In Odisha!
Though Airport (Odisha has only 1 major airport) seizures in the State have a share of around 70 percent, the DRI finds the illegal trade running big on the roadways, too.
“In January this year, our officials seized around 11 kg foreign origin gold from cars at Odisha – Chhattisgarh border within a span of a week. Investigation revealed that the foreign origin gold was sourced from Mumbai, and via Odisha being dispatched to Kolkata. This hints at the spurt in gold seizures in Odisha, as the State is emerging as a transitory route in the illegal yellow metal trade,” explained a senior DRI official here.
Odisha 2024 Gold Seizures Touches Glittering Height
What has alerted the DRI official in Odisha is, while the gold quantity seized in 2023 (upto October) was 3.54 kg, the DRI laid a big haul of 3.76kg of foreign-origin gold from a passenger at Biju Patnaik International airport on a single day in May this year.
The gold seizures made by DRI and CT-GST officials, if taken together, this year, is nearing the double digit mark in Odisha, a first in recent decades, suggest the seizure data.
