Amount of Smuggled Gold Seized by Customs Quadrupled in 2024; Increase Attributed to Rising Gold Prices, Post-Pandemic Increase in Cross-Border Travel

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:50 JST, February 20, 2025

The amount of smuggled gold seized by customs nationwide in 2024 was 1,218 kilograms, which is four times the volume seized in the previous year, the Finance Ministry announced on Wednesday.

The ministry is beefing up its efforts against gold smuggling, which it believes is increasing due to the rise in the price of gold and the increase in the number of people entering and leaving the country after the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the ministry, more than half of the confiscated gold by volume — 656 kilograms in 28 seizures — was taken from air cargo.

There were 281 seizures of gold smuggled from Hong Kong, more than any other country or region, followed by China at 105 and South Korea at 34.

The total number of seizures was 493, 2.3 times as more than in the previous year. 429 of those, or more than 90%, were from air travel passengers bringing in gold with them. The price of gold has more than doubled in the last three years, due to the metal gaining attention as a risk-free asset amid conditions such as Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.