Gold, cocaine worth ₹24 crore seized at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Gold and cocaine worth over ₹24 crores in total has been seized at the Delhi airport by the customs department in three separate cases, it said on Wednesday

New Delhi: Gold and cocaine worth over ₹24 crores in total has been seized at the Delhi airport by the customs department in three separate cases, it said on Wednesday.

HT Image

In the first case, which took place on a Sunday, a Ugandan national was arrested after 1877 grams of cocaine was recovered from his baggage, which had been concealed in 210 buttons. These buttons had been stitched and affixed on to 5 different kurtas the man was carrying, officials aid.

In the second case, on the same day, customs said a Bhutanese national was placed under arrest with 841 grams of gold recovered from his baggage, which included 1 gold chain, 4 gold bars and 1 gold ring. In the third case, also on Sunday, Customs said two men were placed under arrest and gold was recovered from the seats of an IndiGo flight that had landed at Terminal-2 from Hyderabad. The two passengers had left the gold behind on the aircraft by concealing it on the side wall of the aircraft next to seats 16 and 17.

“The two passengers were identified based on the seat numbers and it was found they had brought this gold from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. This was supposed to be picked up by another individual,” said a customs official, stating four men in total had been arrested across these three cases, with further investigation still underway.