Mumbai: Customs seize gold worth Rs 1.20 cr, 60K USD in three separate ops at airport, four held

The Customs officials in two separate operations have arrested two persons, including a Sudanese national for allegedly smuggling gold in dust and paste form. The agency has seized over two kilograms of gold dust having a value of over Rs 1.20 crore. Interestingly, the Indian national accused had made a special cavity stitched in his underwear to conceal the gold dust.

According to the customs officials, on Friday, the officials at the airport had intercepted one Sudanese male passenger who had arrived via Sharjah. On checking his baggage we found 1.8 kilograms of gold in paste form, valued at Rs 75.50 lakhs. The material was recovered from a pouch kept concealed between rods of a luggage trolley. The said passenger has been arrested.

On January 18, Airport customs officials had successfully intercepted an Indian national who had arrived from Dubai and seized 1.1 kilograms of Gold dust worth Rs 45 lakh concealed in his underwear. He had created a cavity stitched in his undergarment to conceal the drugs, said an official.

"The gold dust is difficult to trace in hand-held detectors and scanners and hence smugglers are trying to sneak in the precious metal in dust or paste form. The accused in both the cases hail from poor economic background and are mainly mules or carriers. They work as carriers in lieu of money. These carriers are only informed by their supplier that they need to hand over the consignment to a person who would meet them outside the airport. When the receiver realises that the carrier is taking more than usual time to come out of the airport, they simply leave the place," the official said.

In another operation, the customs officials on Friday arrested one staff of a company that provides wheelchairs at the airport and a passenger for allegedly attempting to smuggle out 60,000 USD collectively equivalent to Rs 44.16 lakh. "The staffer was supposed to handover foreign currency to a passenger, who is a Mumbai resident. The passenger had attempted to travel to Dubai. The recovered foreign currency has been seized," an official said.