Eight held for smuggling gold dust worth ₹3.9 cr in bodies

Customs officials said the gold was in the form of dust mixed in wax and stuffed in plastic capsules hidden in the bodies of the passengers

Mumbai The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the customs department on Friday arrested eight Indian fliers at the city airport after they landed from Jeddah on charges of smuggling gold and seized a total of 8.4 kg gold valued at ₹3.9 crore from them.

Two of the passengers had also hid gold dust in their underwear. AIU officials said they acted on specific intelligence and intercepted eight Indian passengers (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Customs officials said the gold was in the form of dust mixed in wax and stuffed in plastic capsules hidden in the bodies of the passengers. Two of the passengers had also hid gold dust in their underwear. AIU officials said they acted on specific intelligence and intercepted eight Indian passengers.

“We suspect that the accused were hired by the main racket members as carriers against some commission. The smuggling was done to evade import duty on the precious metal. We are checking if the passengers had smuggled gold in the past using the same modus-operandi,” said an AIU official.

All the accused have been charged under relevant sections of Customs Act and are being investigated further. The AIU officials are trying to obtain more information from the accused about other members of the racket who are behind the smuggling.