Gold smuggling racket involving migrant workers busted

Details of a well organised racket of smuggling gold using migrant workers including several domestic workers returning to Sri Lanka from West Asia has been exposed.

Sri Lanka Customs has been able to detect several such smuggling attempts at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, a high official of the Customs Department said.

Custom officers had seized six 100 gram gold biscuits, three 50 gram gold biscuits, and 40 30 gram gold biscuits during their search operations last week, he disclosed.

The modus operandi of the racket is where the masterminds would hand over to migrant workers gold biscuits or gold jewellery worth more than the money they bring in to the country and buy it from them via their local agents.

This racked had been carried out for some time foxing custom officers, he said adding that these racketeers were also in the practice of handing over high valued gold  jewellery to  these female workers to wear it when returning to the island.

They have deployed their local agents to collect those gold items paying a commission to these smugglers, investigations revealed.        

This was one of the reasons for the sudden decline in foreign remittances of migrant workers last month, he said. Workers’ remittances declined in July to US$453.3 million, down by a 35% from a year earlier.

The July dip also reduced the first seven months’ inflows growth by 2.6% to $3.77 billion. In June, workers remittances inflow was $ 478 million, whilst in May, the figure was $ 460 million. (BS)