Mumbai Customs Seize Diamonds, Gold & Drugs Worth Over ₹14 Crore At Airport

Mumbai: Customs officials at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport detected multiple cases of smuggling involving diamonds, gold and narcotics during operations conducted between December 30 and 31, officials said on Saturday.

Acting on spot checks, passenger profiling and inputs from the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), officers of the Airport Commissionerate, Mumbai Customs Zone–III, booked four cases involving the seizure of diamonds, gold and hydroponic weed, collectively valued at several crores.

In one of the cases, customs officers detected a passenger attempting to smuggle diamonds by concealing them within his body. On examination, officials recovered 849.6 carats of diamonds valued at Rs 2.52 crore. The passenger was intercepted following profiling, and the contraband was seized in accordance with customs procedures, officials said.

In two separate gold smuggling cases, customs seized 89 grams of 24-carat rhodium-plated gold buttons worth Rs 11.35 lakh from one passenger. In another case, 1.47 kg of 24-carat gold dust in wax form, valued at Rs 1.87 crore, was recovered from a passenger along with an airport staff member.

According to officials, the gold dust was initially handed over by a Bangladeshi transit passenger to another transit passenger of the same nationality, who later passed it on to an Air India Airport Services Limited (AIASL) staff member within the airport premises.

Separately, based on specific intelligence inputs, officials booked two additional cases. In one instance, 160 grams of 24-carat gold valued at Rs 20.41 lakh was recovered from two passengers.

In a major narcotics haul, customs officials seized 8.008 kg of suspected hydroponic weed from a passenger who arrived from Bangkok. The contraband is estimated to be worth around Rs 8 crore in the illicit market. The passenger was arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.