Government now plans a crackdown against gold mafia

After cracking down on goods and currency smuggling as well as electricity theft in the country that produced substantial results, the caretaker government now plans to crackdown against the black market of gold as well as its smugglers and hoarders.

A new taskforce has been constituted by the government against the so called gold mafia as well as smugglers of precious metals and officials from law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been made part of the teams to start a crackdown against those involved in illegal trade of gold.

A report said that the taskforce is already busy creating a list of the elements involved in the illegal trade.

Another initiative taken by the caretaker government is measures to bring all the gold dealers of the country in the tax net. Measures like digitizing buying and selling of gold is also under consideration, which will make smuggling and tax evasion very difficult.

The bullion market stopped its business for three days as there were news of crackdown in some markets, however, the trade resumed after negotiations and assurances by the government that legal trade will not be affected by the government actions.

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The price of 24-carat gold closed at Rs 215,000 per tola on September 12, as per the rates of the All Pakistan Gems and Jewellers Sarafa Association (APGJSA). APGJSA had announced that gold and silver trading would resume through legal and justified mechanism from September 16, 2023.


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The initiative is part of an overall crackdown against illegal economic activity in the country, some of the measures taken by the government have already yielded positive results but it is yet to be seen if the government is able to sustain its momentum and weed out illegal activities.