Mumbai: Airport customs seize gold worth ₹5 crore, flyer from Dubai and lounge staff held

In two separate cases, the Mumbai Airport Customs officials have seized over 11 kg of gold totally valued at ₹5 crore. On Saturday, a person who arrived from Dubai was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle gold bars weighing 9,000 gm provisionally valued at ₹4.62 crore. The examination of the flyer and checking of his baggage led to the seizure of gold.

Talking about the second incident, a Customs official said, “On March 30, the Customs officials posted at Mumbai airport had seized over 2.1 kg of gold dust in wax form valued at ₹1.10 crore from an airport lounge staff. The gold was handed over to the lounge staff in the departure area by two Indian nationals transiting Mumbai. We are probing the roles of the suspects and also ascertaining if there is a syndicate involved in this smuggling racket.”

On Saturday, the Preventive Commissionerate of the Customs department had destroyed approximately eight lakh sticks of smuggled foreign origin cigarettes, 2,500 packets of tobacco and 200 cigars totally valued at around ₹2 crore.

On March 31, the Customs officials had destroyed 78.91 kg of drugs valued at ₹3 crore at the Mumbai Waste Management Limited, Taloja – a facility authorised by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board for such operations.