In a ground-breaking international operation, Customs organisations from 19 countries recently seized over $3.7 million worth of cash as well as well as approximately 28.5 kilograms of gold worth $1.3 million.
It was the first operation of its kind to be organised by the World Customs Organisation and involved countries from the Asia/Pacific region in addition to the United States, all of whom strengthened their controls from 25 August to 6 October 2019 to detect the movement of concealed or undeclared currency and as well as gems and precious metals, which were being smuggled via commercial air and other cross-border transport modes.
Among the exceptional seizures were 100 Australian dollar bills valued at US$122 000 US dollars, which were concealed in magazines whose pages had been removed.
India Customs made two cash seizures of US$557 000 and US$449,000 respectively, both of which involved the concealment of various currencies inside carry-on luggage.
Japan Customs detected a large gold smuggling scheme that involved the concealment of gold bars within a bundle of 10 000 yen notes that had a hollowed-out centre, which Sri Lanka Customs seized a considerable quantity of gold that had been transformed into paste, which two individuals attempted to smuggle to Bangladesh.
