Mumbai: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials at the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport intercepted a couple in the early hours of Tuesday morning and seized 2.5 kilos of gold paste valued at Rs1.5 crore.
Suspicious behaviour of flyers
CISF staff at Terminal 2 noticed a passenger near the glass partition between domestic gate No 86 and 87, on Level 3, behaving in a suspicious manner. The flier, identified as Jalal Y Jalaludeen, accompanied by Shajitha Begum, was supposed to travel to Coimbatore by Air India Flight AI609. The couple were observed picking up a black pouch thrown from the glass partition of the international boarding gate No 86 on Level 4. “Both passengers were intercepted and, along with their hand baggage, brought to the customs office for interrogation and examination,” an official said.
A joint interrogation by CISF and customs officials and physical check of their baggage led to recovery of six oval-shaped yellow metal balls wrapped in black tape.
An international passenger had thrown the contraband over the glass sheet that bifurcates the domestic and international boarding gates area to evade customs.
Both passengers were arrested by Customs Air Intelligence Unit for smuggling gold and evading customs duties.
