AHMEDABAD: A rising number of gold smuggling cases have been detected at the Ahmedabad airport, and at airports across the country, ever since the basic customs duty on gold went up. At the Ahmedabad airport alone, seizures of smuggled gold have spiked by 37.5% merely eight months into FY 2023 as compared to FY 2022, suggests the data released by the Ahmedabad customs commissionerate. From March to November 2022, 30 persons have been arrested at the Ahmedabad airport in connection with gold smuggling. About 40kg of gold was seized in FY 2022 and the figure shot up to 55kg in the current fiscal. Effective July 1 this year, gold started attracting a basic customs duty of 12.5% in addition to the 2.5% agriculture cess. Over and above this, 3% GST is also applicable on gold purchases, taking the effective duties and taxes on gold to 18%. On Wednesday, the gold price stood at Rs 54,400 per 10 gram in the Ahmedabad market. Therefore, for every kilogram of gold smuggled, the smuggler makes a profit of Rs 9.7 lakh, excluding costs paid to couriers. “Due to the geopolitical uncertainty and economic instability, yellow metal prices are already high. With the Indian currency depreciating past the 81-mark, the effective price of gold in the Indian market is even higher after adding duties,” said Haresh Acharya, director, India Bullion and Jewellers’ Association. Acharya added: “Therefore, the procurement of gold through unofficial channels is increasingly taking place here to save duties.” In fact, IBJA has already sent a representation to the Union finance ministry, seeking to abolish the basic customs duty on gold and instead hiking the GST to 15%. “In that situation, smugglers will not get any incentive to procure gold from other countries. A level-playing field will be created for gold industry players, as unofficial procurements will stop,” said a senior IBJA official. “At the same time, the exchequer will not lose revenue. It will also make the gold market more organized.”
AHMEDABAD: Just ahead of the assembly elections in Gujrat, some five passengers arriving from Sharjah at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad were arrested on Tuesday by the air intelligence unit of the Customs Commissionerate, Ahmedabad, for smuggling gold. Some 18.34kg of gold was recovered and seized by the Customs department officials. Gold price stood at Rs 54,500 per 10 gram in the Ahmedabad market. Accordingly, the seized gold is estimated to be worth Rs 10 crore in the local markets here. The duo was among the five passengers who were intercepted by the customs officials, based on passenger profiling carried out using scientific tools. Two of the five were found to be carrying gold concealed in paste form in a waist belt. Officers of the air intelligence unit at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad said, "Gold was concealed in the form of paste and kept in pockets of a specially designed belt the passengers wore around their waist. The duo claimed they were wearing a specific belt for relief from backache". The gold was confiscated by the Customs department officials under section 111 and section 11(3) of the Customs Act, 1962. "Upon interrogation, the remaining three passengers admitted active involvement in smuggling gold with these two passengers," said a Customs official. Offence has been registered against all five passengers under Section 132 and Section 135 of the Customs Act 1962. All have been arrested and produced before the court. Of late, Ahmedabad Customs has been increasingly unearthing cases of gold smuggling in huge quantities. Gold smuggling has particularly increased over the past 8-10 months as the basic customs duty on gold has been increased by the Union Finance Ministry as a result of which gold price is higher in India. “Lately, due to geopolitical uncertainty and economic instability, yellow metal prices are already high. With the Indian currency depreciating past the 81-mark, the effective price of gold in the Indian market is even higher after adding duties. Therefore, procurement of gold through unofficial channels is increasingly taking place here to save duties,” said Haresh Acharya, director, India Bullion, and Jewellers’ Association.
Domestic air passengers will have to reach the airport two hours before schedule. Usually, passengers usually reach one hour before their scheduled domestic flight. However, with increased footfall, many have been missing their flights on busy routes. Keeping this in mind, airlines may also issue advisory asking passengers to reach 1.5 to 2 hours earlier for check-ins.Post Diwali, passenger footfall at Ahmedabad airport has witnessed a steady rise. Owing to NRI season, elections and religious programmes, domestic passenger traffic at the airport has touched 32,000 people per day.As a result, during peak hours on busy routes, check-in and boarding counters witness heavy rush leading to long queues.On the other hand, there have been complaints that on some routes, passengers are offloaded due to overbooking by airlines.Prahladnagar resident and businessman Chirag Patel is a frequent flyer. He flies in and out of the city 8-10 times a month.He said, “A few days ago, I reached on time for my early morning flight and yet, the airline had closed the luggage counter. Many times, the doors are closed. As a result, I had to pay more money to catch a connecting flight.”Airlines, which overbook have to offload many passengers due to load restrictions. This happens because most flyers arrive at the airport an hour before the scheduled flight. As a result, the check-in and boarding counters get crowded and lot of time is wasted there.Ahmedabad airport sources said normal footfall ranges between 26,000 and 27,000. However, during Diwali it rises and after the festive season it drops again. However, this time with elections and NRI season at the peak, passenger traffic has risen by 5,000. Such an advisory was issued during Diwali festive season also.Sources said airport and airlines may issue the advisories asking passengers to reach two hours early.
AHMEDABAD: In utter chaos at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad on Sunday, 21 flights were delayed. Of these, five were delayed for more than three hours. Two flights, to Goa and Delhi, were delayed by four hours. Two flights to Jaipur were delayed by 3.5 hours. A Mumbai-bound flight was delayed by five hours. Distressed passengers ended up waiting at the airport for long hours due to lack of prior information about the delay. Other flights which were delayed for an hour and three hours included flights to Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Jaisalmer, Goa, Chennai and Bengaluru. "We boarded the flight to Chennai an hour earlier and the flight has still not departed. We have not been given any reasons for the delay yet," a passenger posted on social media. A well-placed source said rotation issues caused by a shortage of aircraft has led to an increase in flight delays at SVPI airport in Ahmedabad. "Due to the aircraft shortage, airlines are compelled to work with smaller fleets which leads to to cancellation of flights or rescheduling of operations. The shortage was caused by several Airbus 320 aircraft being grounded," source said.
AHMEDABAD: The city police has held a 44-year-old man at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport for carrying a fake Portuguese passport. According to police sources, an immigration officer named Ishita Thakkar was checking documents of passengers due to fly from Ahmedabad to Dubai during the small hours of Friday. Thakkar came across a man identifying himself as Bhavesh Devji, from Santa Cruz East in Mumbai, who had a Portuguese passport. Thakkar sensed that the document was dodgy because his birthplace was shown as Valsad. Further inspection revealed that the picture on the passport was of another man. Thakkar asked for other identity proof which the man could not produce. During preliminary questioning, the man told immigration officers at the airport that his original name was Nilesh Prajapati and he had obtained a fake Portuguese passport. The man was handed over to airport police and the special operations group of the city crime branch began an investigation. According to police, Prajapati alias Devji had gone to Armenia from Hyderabad in 2018 and then travelled to Serbia, Greece, Italy, France, and ultimately reached Portugal. He met a human smuggler in Portugal who provided him a fake Portuguese passport for Rs 17 lakh. The man got a tourist visa to India and came to Ahmedabad city on September 16. On Friday, he was supposed to go to Dublin in Ireland though Dubai.
AHMEDABAD: The city police has held a 44-year-old man at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport for carrying a fake Portuguese passport. According to police sources, an immigration officer named Ishita Thakkar was checking documents of passengers due to fly from Ahmedabad to Dubai during the small hours of Friday. Thakkar came across a man identifying himself as Bhavesh Devji, from Santa Cruz East in Mumbai, who had a Portuguese passport. Thakkar sensed that the document was dodgy because his birthplace was shown as Valsad. Further inspection revealed that the picture on the passport was of another man. Thakkar asked for other identity proof which the man could not produce. During preliminary questioning, the man told immigration officers at the airport that his original name was Nilesh Prajapati and he had obtained a fake Portuguese passport. The man was handed over to airport police and the special operations group of the city crime branch began an investigation. According to police, Prajapati alias Devji had gone to Armenia from Hyderabad in 2018 and then travelled to Serbia, Greece, Italy, France, and ultimately reached Portugal. He met a human smuggler in Portugal who provided him a fake Portuguese passport for Rs 17 lakh. The man got a tourist visa to India and came to Ahmedabad city on September 16. On Friday, he was supposed to go to Dublin in Ireland though Dubai.
