Crackdown on gold smuggling increases sharply

The customs agency said Monday that it has confiscated a total of 127 kilograms of gold being smuggled into the country so far this year. The amount is much higher than 13 kilograms of confiscated gold last year, according to data provided by the Korea Customs Service (KCS). It is valued at 6.8 billion won (US$6.3 million). The increase is attributable to the agency\'s recently stepped-up crackdown efforts. In May, the KCS launched teams exclusively tasked with investigating gold smuggling attempts. \"We have been making progress by using scientific and systematic investigation methods since the teams were launched and deployed at major customs in response to gold smugglers who are getting more intelligent and sophisticated,\" said Baek Un-chan, the head of the KCS. Along with the figures, the customs agency announced that eight people, including a Taiwanese, have been booked without physical detention on charges of smuggling 31 kilograms of gold bullion valued at 1.7 billion won into the country.