Mumbai: In two separate cases, Mumbai Airport Customs has seized 3kg gold worth Rs 1.63 crore, from two male Indian passengers arriving from Sharjah. In the first case, an Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officer said, a passenger who had arrived in a flight from Sharjah was examined on Thursday.
“After a thorough examination of the passenger, it was learnt that he had concealed gold in a specially designed belt underneath his inner garments and the rest was pasted on the bottom of his feet,” the Customs officer informed.
“This is an indigenous method used by the flyer to dodge Customs checking. We have seized 1.79 kilograms of 24-carat gold from the said passenger. We launched an extensive probe to ascertain who had given him the gold consignment in Sharjah and who was supposed to receive it in Mumbai,” the officer said.
Details On Second Case
In the second case, Mumbai Airport Customs officers examined another passenger who had arrived from Sharjah on Thursday and in this case, “The gold was ingeniously hidden in a pastamaker and mixer grinder being carried by the passenger. We have seized 1.386kg 24- carat crude gold pieces from the said passenger. In this case too, we are ascertaining who the supplier and recipients were,” said the officer.
“In most cases, we have observed that the passengers act as carriers or mules for indulging in smuggling. They are lured by the promise of either free foreign trips or money by the smugglers,” said an agency source.
8KG Gold Seized From A Sri Lankan National Recently
On Tuesday, a Sri Lankan national and a Tamil Nadu resident were held by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the international airport in Mumbai for allegedly smuggling eight kilogrammes of gold worth Rs 4.18 crore. The two were later handed over to the customs department for further investigation.
