Customs arrest 3 Kenyan nationals, Indian passenger for smuggling gold worth ₹5.85 crore

AIU Customs Department arrests 3 Kenyan women & 1 Indian man in separate gold smuggling cases at Mumbai Airport, seizing gold worth ₹5.85 crore.

Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs Department on Saturday arrested three Kenyan national women and a male Indian passenger in two separate cases of alleged gold smuggling and seized a total of gold worth ₹5.85 crore.

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In the first case, an official of the AIU intercepted Amit Parasmal Jain, a passenger with an Indian passport, when he was heading to the customs green channel at the Mumbai Airport.

He had arrived from Dubai by an Indigo Airline flight, and during the search, officials found 44 gold bars of 24 KT gold, weighing 5,127 grams worth ₹3.25 crore.

During interrogation, Jain, knowing the vast difference in value of gold in India and Dubai, allegedly confessed that the gold was his and he had purchased it from Dubai to sell the gold in the local market in India to make a profit.

In another case, the AIU officials laid a trap at the airport and intercepted three Kenyan women nationals — Samira Mohamed Abdi, Feiza Abdi Dekh Hassan, and Fardowsa Ahmed Abdi — when they arrived at the CSMI airport on Saturday. They came from Addis Ababa to Mumbai by Ethiopian Airlines.

All three approached the customs Red Channel, claiming that they wanted to declare gold items. The three passengers declared a total of 2.540 kg of gold. But while checking, it was found that the same was mis-declared as the actual weight of the gold was 3.018 kilograms.

A search was conducted, and the officials found 11 gold bars hidden in Samira’s undergarments. During interrogation, Hassan and Abdi allegedly confessed that they had given the gold bars to Samira to hide. They were smuggling 22 KT gold melted bars totalling 4,483 grams collectively valued at ₹2.60 crore.

They had purchased the gold from Ahmed, a resident of Isli in Nairobi, on credit. They were supposed to sell the gold in the local market in India, and they were supposed to take back the profits to Nairobi, Kenya.

All the accused have been arrested under the Customs Act.