Customs seize 11.40 kg gold, electronics worth ₹7.46 crore
Customs department at Mumbai airport seized 11.40kg of gold & electronics worth ₹7.46 cr in 2 days, intercepting 22 people, including foreign nationals, involved in gold smuggling. Arrests made.
MUMBAI: The Customs department seized over 11.40kg of gold and electronics items valued at ₹7.46 core in the last two days at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The officials intercepted 22 people, including two foreign nationals, and found gold concealed in their clothes, sanitary pads, trolley, undergarments and inside and on the body.
All the passengers were allegedly involved in gold smuggling and two of them were found carrying more than half kg of gold in their possession, so they were arrested and produced in the court while others were served notices under the Customs Act and were released after the seizure of their gold.
According to the customs officials, several teams were formed based on the analysis of the data and on specific information received about the passengers travelling from abroad in the financial city. Two Indian nationals travelling from Dubai were intercepted while they were heading towards the green signal. The officials recovered 24 kt gold dust in wax concealed inside the sanitary pad worn by the customers and in-clothes total having a net weight of two kilograms. Both were arrested.
Another customs team intercepted two foreign nationals travelling from Nairobi and Abu Dhabi and found them carrying 1.200 kg gold hidden inside the rectum and in the dress by the customers.
In the third operation, the customs official intercepted an Indian national travelling from Sharjah who was carrying eight iPhones 15 Pro (128 GB), two iPhones 15 Pro Max (256 GB), seven refurbished iPhones 13Pro (128GB) and one iPhone 13 Pro (256 GB also refurbished) in his backpack. Further search of his backpack also found 12 HP laptops (refurbished) and one Dell Laptop (refurbished) total valued at ₹23 lakh, said the official.
In the fourth operation, the official intercepted seventeen Indian nationals on Wednesday- six were travelling from Dubai, five from Bangkok, one from Sharjah, and each from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Addis Ababa and Doha. They were carrying 4,831 gms of gold concealed inside clothes, sanitary pads, trolleys, and undergarments.
The officials also found 24 kt gold dust in wax which were in two pouches with a net weight of two kilograms grams at ₹1.26 crore and 12 gold bars of 24 kt net weight of around 1,399 gm valued at ₹90 lakh respectively found concealed under the toilet seat and in the pocket of a seat on the aircraft, added official.