Amid travel restrictions, two Indians caught smuggling gold at Mumbai international airport

The two passengers, arriving from two different flights, had smuggled over 1.2kg of gold worth Rs 59 lakh

Two Indians arriving from Dubai were caught with gold at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (CSMI) airport on Monday. The two passengers arriving from two different flights smuggled over 1.2kg of gold worth Rs 59 lakh. This is when the Indian government has imposed restrictions on international flight operations.

Representational Image.

Officials of Mumbai airport Customs detained Farooqui Rehman after he had landed from Dubai on GoAir’s flight G8 4012 at 7.50 am. The Indian national was carrying 705 gm gold worth Rs 3,219,294. Though the customs officials seized the gold, they had yet to release the passenger.

In the second case, Panni Mohammad, who also arrived from Dubai, was detained for smuggling gold. Mohammad travelled by SpiceJet’s SG 174 and was caught in the green channel of the arrival hall. He is also an Indian national and was carrying 575gm of gold worth Rs 2,625,666.

This is not the first case where a passenger arriving from Dubai has been caught. On October 8, Customs caught a man who arrived on a flight from Dubai. On searching him, officials found 24 carat crude gold chains and one bangle, weighing 548g, all of it worth Rs 24.5 lakh.

In the first week of October too, Customs seized 1,127g of gold dust worth Rs 45 lakh that had been concealed in the cavities of three Indians who arrived from Dubai.