53-yr-old arrested at IGI airport for trying to smuggle gold worth Rs 35 lakh

A police officer said during questioning the man revealed that he pretended to be disabled in a bid to sneak out of the Delhi airport without being caught.

The Customs on Monday arrested a 53-year-old labourer working at a garments factory in Punjab from the Indira Gandhi International Airport after he was caught pretending to be a wheelchair-bound differently-abled passenger to allegedly smuggle gold worth R35 lakh. The gold was concealed in a cloth belt, which the passenger was wearing around his waist, officials said.

Gold worth Rs 35.22 lakh was seized from a man at Delhi’s IGI airport on Monday, January 7, 2019. (HT Photo)

According to a Customs officer, the man, landed at the Delhi airport from Dubai and was intercepted after he crossed the green channel on the basis of a tip-off.

“He was asked to co-operate for personal frisking and baggage search. During the search, we found the man was wearing a belt on his waist inside his clothes. Inside the belt, there were three pieces of gold weighing 1.2 kgs. Total value of the recovered gold is Rs 35.22 lakh. The passenger was arrested and the gold was seized,” said Anubha Sinha, joint commissioner, Customs, IGI airport.

Sinha said that the man, during questioning, revealed he is not specially abled and that he pretended to be disabled in a bid to sneak out of the Delhi airport without being caught. “He said this was his first attempt and that he was a carrier. He said someone would have contacted him once he was in Delhi. To unearth the smuggling chain further, our investigation is in process,” Sinha said.