A flyer from Dubai, who was exiting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) after leaving behind gold bars worth Rs 82 lakh, was arrested by Mumbai customs on Friday.
The arrest of the passenger comes as a major success as the recent such cases had led to the recovery of abandoned gold while the passengers had escaped. Based on intelligence, authorities rummaged through a flight arriving from Dubai which led to the recovery of 16 gold bars from the aircraft toilet.
The total weight of recovered gold is 1863 grams. Authorities stated that the passenger who had abandoned the gold was identified before he could escape. “The concerned passenger was further identified and arrested in the arrival hall,” they stated. The flyer may have abandoned the gold while someone was to pick it up before the Customs recovered the gold.
On January 28, gold bars worth Rs 87.58 lakh were found hidden in the toilet of an aircraft at the airport. The gold bars were hidden beneath the tissue paper compartment in the toilet but were traced only after the aircraft landed in the city from Dubai. Earlier last month, gold bars worth Rs 73 lakh were found underneath a seat of an aircraft at CSMIA. The gold was hidden in a hollow pipe beneath a seat after the aircraft landed in the city from Dubai.
The seizures of such a huge quantity of gold at Mumbai airport is seen as a big dent to the racket operating in smuggling gold from Dubai. In the past, the Air Intelligence Unit has found gold bars worth crores of rupees which were unclaimed and abandoned.
