A special Gazette notification has been issued restricting bringing in more than 22 carats in gold as jewellery to Sri Lanka in a bid to prevent gold smuggling, says the Finance Ministry.

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies has pointed out that several cases of gold smuggling into the country were reported during the recent period under the guise of wearing the gold jewellery upon entering the country.

It has been revealed that some smugglers are engaged in gold smuggling activities on a daily basis due to the lack of restrictions on carrying gold into the country, the Ministry mentioned.
 
State Minister of Finance, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has directly intervened in this regard and looked into the matter together with the Department of Customs, it said, further adding that it was discovered that around 50 kg of gold are smuggled into the island daily.
 
Further, the Ministry has also emphasized that the country loses about USD 30 million monthly as a result of such smuggling activities.

“However, after taking strict measures in order to prevent these types of trafficking activities, threatening calls were received to the responsible parties and the matter was disclosed with evidence through a press release on 17-10-2022”, it added.
 
The statement further includes that the second largest haul of illegally smuggled gold in history was found by Sri Lanka Customs on December 09, 2022, highlighting that 22 kilograms of gold with an estimated value of over Rs. 400 million were found in the operation.
 
Accordingly, following President Wickremesinghe issuing the relevant Gazette notification restricting bringing in more than 22 carats as gold jewellery into Sri Lanka, a special permit will now be required to bring in gold jewellery of more than 22 carats into the island.