Gold seizures at Chennai airport drop by 50%

CHENNAI: Gold seizures by Customs authorities at the Chennai international airport have reduced by half in 2024-25 compared to the previous year.

As per official data sourced through RTI, Chennai Customs seized around 310kg of gold worth Rs 166 crore in 560 cases from April 2023 to March 2024. The seizures dropped to 160kg of gold worth Rs 110 crore across 233 cases from April 2024 to March 2025. The number of arrests made by Customs authorities, however, increased from 72 to 106 over the past one year, the data show.

After an increasing trend in gold seizures at the airport over the last few years, the trend seems to be reversing. For instance, in 2022-23, Customs had seized around 250kg of gold, which was almost 25% more compared to 2023-24. Gold is usually smuggled into India from UAE and Southeast Asian countries.