A series of gold-smuggling cases has recently been uncovered. Those who committed such crimes purchased gold bullion in tax-free countries and brought it into Japan without paying the consumption tax at customs, thereby earning an 8 percent margin on its resale.
On June 1, it was discovered that about 206 kilograms of gold bullion, worth about ¥930 million, was smuggled into a fishing port in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture. It was the country’s largest-ever gold-smuggling case.
Japanese and South Korean police are increasingly on the alert as there have been many cases of gold smuggling via South Korea in which people like homemakers and young people served as couriers.
On May 17, a police unit at South Korea’s Incheon International Airport announced that it had uncovered a case involving 16 South Koreans who had smuggled gold bullion into Japan.
According to the unit, on March 2, a 30-year-old South Korean trader came out of a transit corridor in the airport, met a South Korean man who had already completed his embarkation procedures, and handed over 29 pieces of gold bullion weighing 1 kilogram each, which the first man had bought in Hong Kong. After receiving the bullion, worth ¥130 million in total, the second man handed several pieces each to six South Korean women waiting for him in a departure lounge.
The women hid the bullion pieces around their torsos and smuggled them into Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture. They then sold them to a Japanese organized crime syndicate, the police unit said.
Behind the recent gold-smuggling cases are tax systems that vary from country to country.
In Japan, an 8 percent consumption tax is levied on the purchase of gold. This tax is also imposed on gold bought overseas, so people who purchase gold overseas must pay an 8 percent consumption tax on it when importing it into the country. When they resell the gold at a precious metal shop, the shop pays them the value of the gold plus an amount equivalent to the 8 percent consumption tax.
In Hong Kong, no tax is imposed on the purchase of gold. Therefore, gold smugglers can earn an 8 percent margin on it if they resell it in Japan.
The South Korean trader was quoted by the police as saying, “I still can earn a profit even I bear the cost of travel expenses for couriers and give them some reward.”
On June 1, the Aichi prefectural police arrested four South Korean women and a Japanese woman for allegedly smuggling 30 pieces of gold, weighing 30 kilograms in total and worth about ¥130 million, that they hid in their underwear while traveling from Incheon International Airport to Chubu Airport in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, on suspicion of violating the Customs Law among other laws.
According to the Aichi prefectural police and Nagoya Customs, the five women were asked through messaging apps like LINE by a woman in her 50s, who is living in South Korea, to smuggle gold into Japan.
The prefectural police said a reward of ¥10,000 to ¥20,000 per kilogram was paid to each courier.
Meanwhile, the Chiba prefectural police arrested 10 men and women who had tried to smuggle gold bullion into Narita Airport on June 15.
According to a South Korean police source, since around last year there has been an increase in the number of cases in which gold purchased in Hong Kong and other places was smuggled into Japan via South Korea. A rise in the consumption tax rate from 5 percent to 8 percent in 2014 is believed to be behind the increase. What was noteworthy about the recent gold-smuggling cases is that it was homemakers and young people smuggling gold in small quantities.( Munenori Inoue and Arisa Fujii / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff)
Link: http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003775111
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