Gold smuggling cases have surged in Japan on the back of the rising price of the precious metal and the recovery of overseas tourists following the Covid-19 pandemic. Customs authorities are ramping up measures to tighten border controls as smuggling methods become more sophisticated, such as hiding powdered gold in clothing, they said. Last September, two Chinese nationals arriving from Hong Kong were found hiding a total of some 2.6 kilograms of powdered gold in wigs at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. Schemes for gold smuggling to Japan have been widely touted on social media in mainland China and Hong Kong, with assurances that large profits can be made if individuals evade the import tax on the metal levied by customs, which is set at the same rate as the consumption tax. The number of gold smuggling cases investigated by customs authorities nationwide started increasing in 2014, when the consumption tax rate was raised to 8 per cent from 5 per cent, hitting 1,347 in 2017. The consumption tax was raised to 10 per cent in 2019. The figure decreased in 2018 and remained low due to stricter penalties and border controls as well as entry restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic. But cases have started increasing again with demand for the safe-haven asset having grown due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The price of gold had jumped around 2.5-fold from five years ago to 14,746 yen (US$97) per gram as of the end of December 2024, according to Tanaka Precious Metal Technologies Co. In addition to the conventional method of bringing in gold by wearing it as accessories, some recent cases include hiding powdered gold in underwear, sending it by international mail after mixing it with tea powder and using it to replace other metals used in electronic components. Offenders, many of whom are believed to have been recruited via social media, tend to show less hesitation at engaging in gold smuggling compared with drug trafficking as gold itself is not illegal, said Toshihide Manabe, an official at Tokyo Customs. Japanese customs authorities are tightening border controls by introducing advanced inspection equipment with the aim of cracking down on not only carriers but also criminal groups behind them, a senior customs official said.