Data | Gold to dried seahorses, heroin to whale vomit: Volume and variety of contrabands seized in India

A recently released government report throws light on the innovative ways in which a range of items was smuggled in and out of India

Gold, dried seahorses, heroin and red sander logs are some examples of items that are seized by Indian Customs and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in airports, along sea routes, and in border areas nearly every day. The report, ‘Smuggling in India Report, 2021-22’, mentions the volume of illegal commodities seized and describes the kinds of items smuggled and the challenges involved in such operations.

In FY21-22, the DRI seized over Rs. 400 crore worth of over 800 kilograms of gold transported illegally. Chart 1 shows that most of the seized gold originated in Myanmar. Many innovative ways were used to smuggle gold into India. An operation named ‘molten metal’ uncovered a racket wherein gold smuggled in the form of machinery parts were remodelled into bars and cylinders. Another operation code-named ‘golden tap’ uncovered a syndicate which was smuggling triangle valves made of gold but coated with nickel to make them look like steel.

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In FY21-22, the DRI seized over Rs. 1,100 lakh worth of illegal foreign currency. As shown in Chart 2, most of it was in U.S. dollars followed by the UAE’s Dirhams and Saudi Arabia’s Riyals. In one instance, $5 lakh of illegal currency was seized from two persons flying to Sharjah from Mumbai.

In FY21-22, over 1,100 lakh sticks of cigarettes worth over Rs. 93 crore were seized by the DRI. As shown in Chart 3, most of them originated in Myanmar followed by the UAE. One such operation where the DRI officials intercepted a six-wheeler truck at Ukhrul, Manipur, led to a seizure of 32,76,800 sticks worth Rs. 6.5 crore. Cigarettes are smuggled into India given the high taxes imposed on local brands. Most seized packages do not contain pictorial warnings as mandated by the Indian government.

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Narcotics weighing 28,334 kilos were seized by the DRI in FY21-22. Most such seizures in FY21-22 were made in Madhya Pradesh followed by Tripura and Maharashtra. Table 4 shows the break-up of the banned substance for which route data were available. Ganja weighing about 26,900 kilos was seized that year, making it the most smuggled narcotic substance. It was followed by heroin, most of which was apprehended on sea routes. In one instance, over 1,800 cartons of “apple juice” and “pomegranate juice” was imported from Bandar Abbas Port (Iran) and intercepted at Inland Container Depot at Tughlakabad. Upon inspection, many of the cartons were found to have white sediments which turned out to be heroin. In another instance, trolley bags, imported from Entebbe, had hollow metal tubes (as part of the design) which were found to contain heroin. In some cases, the substance was concealed inside teak wood and licorice roots and in others, it was hidden inside oil cans and mixed with rock salt.