Smuggling of gold has started happening at Surat airport for some time now. As if smugglers have made Surat airport the main center of gold smuggling. Gold smuggling cases are on the rise in the books of police and customs.
People have become so crazy about gold that now they have also started using chemical process for it. Understanding the value of gold, smugglers have started trying various tactics to smuggle it from abroad. Some make a capsule and put gold in the stomach, while some hide it in the private part of the body.
It was so little, now smugglers are landing in Surat even after making gold liquid foam or paste. With such innovative techniques of smugglers, even the smartest officers of the investigating agency have been scratching their heads. Recently, in some such cases, the police seized gold in paste form, gold was being brought as if it was a medicated ointment.
Some of the details about the method used for this are startling. Smugglers now process gold with aqua regia (a liquid capable of dissolving gold) and smuggle this gold paste by applying it on certain parts of the body, avoiding the risk of bringing gold directly.
It is worth noting that aqua regia is a chemical metallurgical process. Many metals exist in the world. Some of these metals are included in the noble metals. A noble metal is a metal which never corrodes. This includes gold, silver, rubidium, lead osmium, all of these metals are noble.
Now if we talk about gold, then the root of gold comes from the Latin word Aurum. Which is made up of 79 elements. It usually requires a temperature of about 1064 °C to melt and is solid at room temperature. After mixing with aqua regia it is refined and distilled.
As such, it is largely smuggled by air in paste form, especially in paste form that cannot be caught by metal detectors during airport security checks. It can be brought in a bottle or a zip bag.
Strong gold is converted into 200 grams of gold by making ointment for Rs.600.
In this whole process only Rs 200 is spent to make 100 grams of gold paste and convert it back into gold. This chemical comes in 500 to 600 rupees. And up to 200 grams of gold coating can be made from it. And this process can be easily done in open space. It does not require any large machinery or laboratory set up, so few people have mastered the process. They are constantly experimenting with these methods of smuggling.
Use of aqua regia to make gold paste
Gold is in solid form at a temperature of 1064 Celsius. Gold is liquid at 1064 to 2856 °C and boils at 2856 °C and becomes a gas. It is all a process of heating and boiling. Which cannot be taken anywhere. A very strong reducing acid is formed if both nitric acid and hydrochloric acid are mixed in 3:1 parts. This is called aqua regia. Smugglers are now telling the recipe of stealing gold in this way.
This scientific process makes a paste and gold again
Aqua regia was discovered by Jabir, a scientist from USA University. Aquaregia is the only chemical in which gold is dissolved. And keep melting it till it becomes a thick paste. Which can be preserved in the form of thick paste or other paste. Once made from gold paste, it has to be scientifically processed again to bring it back into gold form. After the gold paste is recovered, a special process is done. In which sodium bicarbonate is sprinkled on the edge. A lot of splinters fly during this process. There is also a danger of burning. Also, a lot of smoke also comes out during this process. That’s why this experiment is done with great care.
Gold is used in circuits in many electronic devices
Former Chairman of the Department of Biology, Veer Narmad University, Dr. Of. Tank said that out of 100, 0.10 grams of gold can be dissolved. Adding sodium bicarbonate gives gold chloride, which is pure gold. Nowadays, many electronic devices use gold in circuits to protect them from corrosion. Many people, especially in computers, work hard to extract gold from scrap with the help of aqua regia.
