India, the world’s largest democracy, has seen an unprecedented surge in illegal Gold smuggling as its Government has imposed high import taxes on the precious metal which it put in place to protect the Indian Rupee and reduce the countries’ current account deficit of £53bn in 2012-13.

Authorities estimate that up to a staggering 700kg of Gold is smuggled into India every day. This is approximately 22,506 troy ounces valued at over £18,400,000 at today’s prices, which is the highest amount for contraband Gold for two decades, according to India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

News source: BBC News.