High import duties coupled with an increasing gap in gold prices between India and Myanmar have led to an upsurge in smuggling of the yellow metal across the international border, a report compiled by anti-smuggling unit of Imphal customs division has said.
Manipur shares a 398-km-long porous international border with the neighbouring country.
An official of the customs division feels facilitating “free movement” of citizens for a stipulated period from Manipur’s border town of Moreh to adjacent Namphalong market in Myanmar has made the conflict-ridden state “more prone to illicit trafficking of contraband gold”.
India and Myanmar border have a Free Movement Regime (FMR) which allows people living along the border to travel 16km across the boundary without visa restrictions.