Delhi Customs officials recently seized items worth a whopping ₹5.42 crore from a female passenger at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on Tuesday. During the mandatory security and screening process, officials became suspicious of the woman holding US passport, who arrived at Terminal-3 from Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific flight bearing number CX-695.
The highly valued items found with her included 1.2 kilogram gold and diamond items, 10 kilogram silver utensils, multiple luxury watches and foreign currency. With total of 9,084 US Dollars, 605 Euros nd 2,540 Hong Kong Dollars, her luggage included premium watches such as Rolex, Bvlgari, Chopard, and Cartier.
₹5.42 crore undeclared items
“The total value of the seized items has been determined as ₹5.42 Cr and being undeclared in violation of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, were seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962,” Delhi Customs in a post on X said.
The statement added, “Further, during examination, domestically procured gold items having total weight of 552 grams, were not seized and returned to the passenger.”
This incident happened on February 18 following which the passenger was placed under arrest under Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962.
The Central Bord of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) under Ministry of Finance released latest set of guidelines for travelers regarding customs duty free allowance on February 1. Gold imports into India are governed by the Customs Act of 1962, which regulates the movement of goods across Indian borders. Passengers must comply with guidelines issued by the CBIC while importing gold to India to avoid any hassles at the airport.
As per the effective regulations, Indian passengers are eligible to carry some amount of gold jewelery duty free. The duty-free allowance or entitlements does not cover gold or silver in any form other than ornaments.
The special allowances for jewelery were updated based on weight, revising the previous outdated value caps. Under the new set of rules, “returning residents/tourists of Indian origin (after staying abroad for more than one year), are allowed to purchase duty-free jewelery purely on a weight basis.” Females can carry at most 40 grams jewelery while males are allowed to take upto 20 grams jewellery.
Detailing new provisions for temporary import or re-import, the circular states, “The facility of issuance of temporary baggage import certificate or export certificate for temporarily carriage of goods brought in or taken out, respectively have been envisioned for hassle-free clearance at arrival and avoid unnecessary detention of goods.”
