Air Travel Ban in 2020 Forced Gold Smugglers to Shift Route from Middle East to Myanmar, Says DRI Report

While the world struggled to adapt to the challenges posed by Covid-19, gold smugglers found new routes to the sneak the precious metal in and out of India during the pandemic in 2020. “The blocking of air routes throughout the lockdown period saw a significant shift in the modus operandi of smugglers from the air routes to the land route through the Indo-Myanmar border,” the DRI said in its annual report. A factor that majorly contributed to this shift was the disruption in air travel caused by Covid-induced restrictions in major sourcing regions like the Middle East and South East Asia,” the report said. This is further indicated by the seizure of smuggled gold from vehicles travelling from North East India and Bangladesh to consumption centres like New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai,” the DRI report said. Of further strategic importance is the fact that Myanmar lies at the crossroad between China, India and Southeast Asia — right in the middle of the points of supply and demand for contraband ranging from cheap cigarettes, exotic animals to gold,” DRI said.