Kozhikode: The GST intelligence has detected illegal gold sales worth Rs 33 crore made without paying taxes in five districts in North Kerala this month alone so far.

It imposed a fine of Rs 1.2 crore in 10 cases for the sale of 82.5 kg of gold without bills to avoid taxes.

According to the agency, it is smuggled gold that is sold without bills. It will pass on this information to the Customs Department, which is investigating the Trivandrum Airport gold smuggling case.

The GST intelligence wing detected illegal gold sales worth Rs 30 crore during an inspection at the gold wholesale centre in Kozhikode. It found out that sales were being done without bills when it inspected the accounts of the past four months of the centre, which distributes gold jewellery to jewellers across the state.

The other nine cases were detected during vehicle inspections in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod districts.

The arrested people were carriers who smuggled gold, on which tax was not paid, from various states in North India to jewellers in Kerala.

The GST wing collected Rs 98.7 lakh from the Kozhikode wholesale centre and Rs 20 lakh in the nine other cases as taxes and fines.

According to the GST Intelligence, the gold is smuggled through various airports across the country and made into jewellery at manufacturing facilities in northern India.

The GST on gold is only 3 per cent. However, authorities do not believe that the illegal trade is being done to just avoid this tax.

They believe the illegal trade without bills helps traders to sell smuggled gold and customers with black money to launder it.

The GST department only has the authority to levy tax and impose penalty on gold sold or held without proper documents and bills. It cannot investigate the source of the gold. The department will share with Customs officials the details it has obtained in its drive against such illegal sale of gold.