While the world struggled to adapt to the challenges posed by Covid-19, gold smugglers found new routes to the sneak the precious metal in and out of India during the pandemic in 2020. According to a report by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), gold smuggling shifted from the Middle East to Myanmar during 2020-21.
“The blocking of air routes throughout the lockdown period saw a significant shift in the modus operandi of smugglers from the air routes to the land route through the Indo-Myanmar border,” the DRI said in its annual report.
“In a significant shift in the trend… the largest amount of gold seized by the DRI in FY 2020-21, is of Myanmarese origin. In FY 2019-20, the largest originating region was the Middle East. A factor that majorly contributed to this shift was the disruption in air travel caused by Covid-induced restrictions in major sourcing regions like the Middle East and South East Asia,” the report said.
India and Myanmar share a 1,643-km border along four Indian states — Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
“Due to the disruptions in rail travel, the smuggled gold had to be moved to consumption centres via road. This is further indicated by the seizure of smuggled gold from vehicles travelling from North East India and Bangladesh to consumption centres like New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai,” the DRI report said.
DRI officials say that the year saw the biggest seizure of gold from the North East where a total of 239.5 kg gold of Myanmarese origin was seized. The seizures were made at multiple locations like Guwahati, Dimapur, Kamrup, Jalukbari and Tengnoupal. The biggest seizure was made on December 22, 2020 when officers intercepted an SUV near the Khanapara flyover in Kamrup, Assam.
The revenue intelligence agency said that the two routes that cut through this border — the old Tamu-Moreh-Imphal trajectory in Manipur, which goes through a vast expanse of unguarded but inaccessible area, and the Zokhatwar route in Mizoram — are popular from the point of view of trade and transit, both legal and illegal.
“The first stop for the gold after being smuggled into India is typically Imphal, followed by Guwahati for aggregation and subsequent distribution to all parts of India, predominantly by road. Of further strategic importance is the fact that Myanmar lies at the crossroad between China, India and Southeast Asia — right in the middle of the points of supply and demand for contraband ranging from cheap cigarettes, exotic animals to gold,” DRI said.
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