Memory chips worth Rs19 lakh seized at airport

Customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport arrested a man on Friday for allegedly smuggling memory cards worth about Rs19 lakh into the country by hiding them in a whiskey bottle carton.

Customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport arrested a man on Friday for allegedly smuggling memory cards worth about Rs19 lakh into the country by hiding them in a whiskey bottle carton.

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The passenger, identified as Baljinder Singh, had arrived at the airport in a Jet Airways flight from Hong Kong (9W 077). Singh hails from Amritsar in Punjab.

"He was carrying memory cards worth Rs18.75 lakh and hid them in a whisky bottle carton. While passing through Green Channel, he was diverted and his bags were scanned," said a senior Customs official. "On detailed examination of his bags, 9050 2GB memory cards and 700 8GB memory cards were found," he said.

The memory cards were seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 and Singh was arrested. "Further investigations are in progress," he said.

In a similar incident on Wednesday, the Customs department had arrested a passenger named Vinay Kumar for allegedly trying to smuggle in 7614 memory cards worth Rs14.43 lakh. Kumar too was flying in from Hong Kong, in an Air India flight.

Kumar, who had visited Hong Kong and China four times since January this year. While he was going out through green channel, he was diverted and his bags were scanned and 7614 4GB memory cards were found in his possession.