NEW DELHI: Kerala tops the total number of gold smuggling cases in the country. Kerala is number one in gold smuggling through the country's airports, ports etc. Gold brought in without payment of tax will be included in the category of gold smuggling.

In the last four years alone, 3173 cases have been registered in the state. This has been confirmed in writing by the Union Finance Ministry. The data is according to the Revenue Intelligence Report.

During this period 2291.51 kg of gold was seized from the state. This will cost more than one thousand crores in the open market. The daily average of gold smuggling cases in the state is 2.17.

According to the report released by the Ministry of Finance, Tamil Nadu is in the second position behind Kerala with 2979 cases and Maharashtra is third with 2528 cases. At the same time, officials say that the reason for the increase in the number of cases in Kerala is that the inspections at the airports have been tightened.