Mumbai, June 18: In two separate cases, Mumbai Airport Customs officials have arrested two persons, including a Canadian citizen of Indian origin, for allegedly possessing undeclared gold and diamond jewellery worth crores of rupees.
The arrests were made following separate operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (CSMI) Airport.
Canadian passenger held with diamond-studded jewellery
In the first case, Customs officers intercepted passenger Sukhpal Singh (34), a Canadian citizen, in the early hours of Wednesday after he arrived at CSMI Airport from Toronto.
“Upon examination of his bag, diamond-studded jewellery was recovered from his possession. The recovered goods were assessed to be valued at Rs 1.21 crore. Thereafter, the voluntary statement of the accused, Sukhpal Singh, was recorded wherein he admitted the possession, carriage, handling and non-declaration of the goods at the Customs red channel, following which he was arrested,” said a Customs officer.
The seized jewellery has been taken into custody for further investigation.
Airline staff member found with gold dust
In another case, Customs officers on Wednesday apprehended S.S. Gurav (48), a resident of Marol.
According to officials, security staff of an airline company handed over Gurav, who worked with the airline, to Customs authorities after becoming suspicious of his actions.
“The said person had recovered 24KT gold dust in wax form having a net weight of 1,350 grams, provisionally valued at Rs 1.75 crore, from the lavatory of an aircraft and had concealed it in his cleaning tray. He hid this fact from the cabin crew, going against established standard protocols. Also, the sheer weight of the packet itself was suspicious and therefore the security staff informed Customs regarding the same,” said a Customs officer.
Gold concealed inside black-tape-wrapped packet
Officials said the staff member and the black-tape-wrapped packet were examined, following which two pouches containing a yellow-coloured wax-like substance, purported to be gold dust in wax form, were found.
A voluntary statement of Gurav was recorded, wherein he allegedly admitted to the possession, carriage, recovery, smuggling and handling of the gold.
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“He also admitted that the gold dust in wax did not belong to him,” officials said. Further investigations are underway in both cases to ascertain the source and intended recipients of the seized valuables.
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