Photo/Illutration Gold seized and put up for public auction. Photo taken on Jan. 20 (Provided by Nagoya Customs)

NAGOYA--Customs officials here, sitting on a gold mine, are letting the public bid on the seized precious metal to get the word out about smuggling.

Nagoya Customs has put up a record amount of gold confiscated in smuggling cases for auction. It is conducting open bidding for about 244 kilograms of gold bullion.

The haul is believed to be the largest amount of solid gold bullion put up for public auction at one time in Japan.

“Contraband trade of gold is still going on," said a Nagoya Customs representative. "Through a public auction, we want the public to know broadly about the crackdown on such smuggling and the fact that smuggling is a crime.”

The gold had been seized under the Nagoya Customs jurisdiction from August 2016 to December 2018.

No claim for its return was filed after investigations were completed.

So the gold became escheat, refined and processed into a sheet.

Currently the price of gold per gram exceeds 7,000 yen ($61). The seized gold is worth about 1.8 billion yen.

Nagoya Customs placed an advertisement for bids on Feb. 3, which will be opened on Feb. 24.

Typically, gold is smuggled by inbound travelers who hide it in their clothing or hand luggage.

But as the number of entrants has decreased under the COVID-19 pandemic, officials are seeing an increasing amount of gold attempting to be smuggled through general freight services. 

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