OSAKA--Four South Korean women, accused of attempting to smuggle in gold ingots worth 136.5 million yen ($1.3 million) in their undergarments, indicated the 30-kilogram haul was just the tip of the iceberg, sources said.
“We’ve smuggled gold into Japan about 30 times since last summer,” investigators quoted one of the suspects as saying.
The women--in their 20s, 30s and 40s--were indicted on June 29 on charges of violating the Customs Law.
Thirty 1-kilogram ingots were found in pockets sewn inside the backs of a camisole, corset and girdle worn by three of the women on April 11 after they landed at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture, the sources said.
The group’s scheme was exposed when a Japan Customs agent became suspicious of one of the women who kept looking down and was reluctant to make eye contact.
They were subsequently arrested by Osaka prefectural police.
The fourth woman, Lee Pu-reun, 27, said her role was to keep an eye on the others, the sources said.
“We transported the gold on orders from a woman in South Korea,” Lee was quoted as saying. “We received the goods from a man near our boarding gate at Incheon Airport and hid them in the underwear of the three others in a bathroom with disability access.”
For each successful smuggling trip, Lee received about 150,000 yen in cash, while the three smugglers were paid 30,000 yen to 40,000 yen, the sources said.
According to Osaka Customs’ Kansai Airport Branch Customs, the Customs Law and Consumption Tax Law require those who enter Japan to declare gold worth more than 200,000 yen at customs and pay the 8-percent consumption tax on the precious metal.
Osaka police suspect the women intended to avoid tax payments totaling 10.8 million yen on the 30 kg of ingots and then sell the gold at a jeweler in Japan.
Suspected gold smugglers have been apprehended at Kansai Airport in 53 cases this year involving 250 kg of gold, a rate up 20 percent from 2015.
