11 Sudanese women caught with gold worth ₹4.14 cr in body cavities

Mumbai: Eleven Sudanese women, who arrived from Sharjah to Mumbai, were caught smuggling and 8

Mumbai: Eleven Sudanese women, who arrived from Sharjah to Mumbai, were caught smuggling and 8.3 kgs of gold worth ₹4,14 recovered from their vaginal cavities by the Customs department at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport on Friday.

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This is the first time in recent years that the Customs officials have caught 11 foreign nationals together and seized smuggled gold.

The 11 women, their ages ranging from 30s to 50s, had arrived at Mumbai on Friday via Air Arabia flight G9-405 in the morning. Based on inputs, the 11 foreigners were detained and examined.

Customs sources said that a total of 31 capsules were recovered from the detained foreigners, who had concealed the smuggled gold in capsule form in their vaginal cavities. The gold was in the wax form and was packed in capsule-shaped body packing with tapes, the source added.

“Surprisingly, they all were travelling in one flight but didn’t know that other individuals were also carrying smuggled gold. They all were lured with lucrative commission and were targetted individually,” said another source.

They were given instructions to handover the gold to someone in Mumbai. Customs officials are working on the information obtained from the foreigners during their interrogation.

They all have been booked under relevant sections of Customs Act. The officials have not arrested all of them as individual seizure of smuggled gold did not exceed the ₹1 crore limit, which is generally a criterion to effect an arrest for gold smuggling.

Only one Sudanese woman was arrested as the biggest quantity of smuggled gold was seized from her possession. She was subsequently released on bail, added another source.

Customs officials are looking for other members of the international gold smuggling syndicate.