Seven arrested at Delhi airport for smuggling gold and forex

Customs officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport arrested six persons in separate instances of gold and forex smuggling over the past two days. An airline staff was also arrested for allegedly facilitating one of the smugglers. The total value of the gold seized is more than ₹1.2 crore.

Customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) have arrested six persons in separate instances of gold and forex smuggling over the past two days. An airline staff was also arrested for allegedly facilitating one of the smugglers.

In two other cases, customs officials arrested a man and a woman in two separate cases for allegedly smuggling foreign currency worth over ₹70 lakh via the Delhi airport. (HT/Picture for representation)

The total value of the gold seized is more than ₹1.2 crore, officials said. In two other cases, the customs also arrested a man and a woman in two separate cases for allegedly smuggling foreign currency worth over ₹70 lakh via the Delhi airport.

In the first case of gold smuggling, two Indians who arrived from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, by a Jet Airways flight on Thursday morning were intercepted by the customs and their baggages checked.

“We found pasta and vermicelli-making machines. A closer inspection led to the recovery of two gold strips painted in dark grey and two cylindrical gold rods painted silver inside the machines. The gold weighed more than 2kg and is valued at around ₹70 lakh,” Amandeep Singh, additional commissioner of customs, IGIA, said, adding that the two were arrested.

In the second case of gold smuggling, an Indian who arrived from Bangkok on Wednesday was stopped by the customs after they received inputs about him smuggling gold.

“Four pieces of gold weighing 384 grams and valued at ₹10.72 lakh were recovered from him. The same day, we arrested another Indian who had landed from Bahrain. He was arrested after 11 gold bars worth ₹39 lakh were recovered from him. A security staff of an airline was also arrested for facilitating him,” Singh said.

Customs also arrested a man and a woman for carrying undeclared foreign currency in two separate incidents. The officer said a woman passenger travelling to Dubai was intercepted on Thursday.

“She was found carrying 489 Saudi riyals ( ₹45.23 lakh). A day before her arrest, our teams intercepted a man who was also bound to board a flight to Dubai with foreign currency worth ₹29.5 lakh. Both the man and the woman were arrested and the currency seized,” he said.