Mumbai, February 20: The Airport Customs officials in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday had seized over 7.64 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 4.09 crore in seven different cases. According to the Customs, the gold was smuggled by concealing in a plate, bicycle, aircraft seat, corner piping of bag, food item packets and check-in baggage.
The officials are now probing who had provided the gold to the flyers, who were supposed to receive the said consignments and if they were involved in smuggling activities in the past. The passengers acted as carriers or mules and were promised money by the smugglers, officials said.
Gold, iPhone, Foreign Currency Seized:
On February 16-18, Airport Customs officials had seized over 9.83 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 5.18 crore, one iPhone and Foreign Currency (35100 USD) across 17 different cases. The gold and currency were concealed in body cavity, clothes worn, plastic plates, tang powder and cabin bag.
"Between On February 14-16, we had seized over 7.20 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 3.93 crore and 05 iPhones across 14 different cases. The gold was concealed in the seat of the aircraft, body cavity, vacuum cleaner, clothes worn, on the body of the passenger," said a Customs official.
More Seizures Of Smuggled Gold:
In seven different cases on February 13-14, Airport Customs had seized over 2.95 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 1.62 crore and two iPhones. The gold was concealed in the cardboard sheet of toy boxes, body cavity and clothes worn.
"On February 11-13, we had seized over 6.13 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 3.37 crore and five iPhones across 10 different cases. The gold was concealed in the Roti maker machine, body cavity, clothes worn and outer layer of Check-in Luggage," the official said.
On February 9-11, Customs had seized over 1.76 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 97 lakh from Foreign and Indian Nationals across five different cases. The gold was found to be concealed in the inner lining of Check-in Luggage, clothes and sandals worn.
