Gold contraband in Japan
Smugglers set records on the amount of gold transported illegally in Japan.
Today, we will tell about the largest contraband incidents in 2017.
The Japanese legislation obliges anyone who wants to bring gold in the Land of the Rising Sun to pay the 8% tax which allows to sell precious metal on the territory of the country. At the time of sale, buyers pay this tax and 8% return to the seller. If the seller has not paid this tax in advance, this percent forms additional profit.
Gold under clothes
Crime time: June 30th, 2017
Location: Kansai Airport
Smuggling objects: gold bars weighing 100 kilograms
Cost: $4.38 million
10 Malaysians failed to illegally import gold worth $4.5 million dollars in Japan.
Customs officers at Kansai Airport detained suspicious passengers who concealed this expensive cargo under their clothes. The officials confirmed that the Malaysians possessed gold bars weighing 100 kg in total. The smugglers obviously did not have any customs invoices or value declarations.
Gold on board
Crime time: June 8th, 2017
Location: Naha Airport
Smuggling objects: 110 kilograms of gold
Cost: > $4.5 million
In June, customs officers at the Naha airport discovered a 100-kg gold contraband batch aboard a private jet heading from Hong Kong. It is possible that yakuza groups were responsible for this smuggling event.
Gold in soap
Crime time: January 2017
Location: Osaka
Smuggling objects: 130 kilograms of gold and ROLEX watches
Cost: $8.5 million
10 people from Hong Kong hid gold in boxes with make-up and soap. Vigilant Japanese customs officers got suspicious when saw the criminals lifting and carrying boxes with "soap" with great effort. As a result of the inspection, the customs officers found 586 expensive ROLEX watches and 130 kilograms of gold.
Recently, residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea have repeatedly made attempts to bring gold across the border of the neighboring country. This is because the price of gold in Japan is higher than that of its neighbors.
The tax system in Japan allows smugglers to try tricks. The government understands this perfectly but fears that tax increase could have negative consequences for the country.
You can earn with gold legally.
