Mumbai woman tries to smuggle 1kg of gold in pressure cooker, held

Banu Abdul Hai Shaikh was to hand over the gold to Faheem MK from Kerala, who was waiting for her outside the airport. However, even he was arrested by officials from Mumbai Customs...

A 48-year-old woman from Wadala was caught at the Mumbai international airport on Tuesday for smuggling gold, which was concealed in a pressure cooker.

The gold plates were recovered from the pressure pan of the cooker. (HT photo)

Based on passenger profiling, officials from Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Mumbai Customs intercepted Banu Abdul Hai Shaikh. “She claimed that a man in Dubai handed over the gold to her. Shaikh met him in Dubai where she had gone to attend a wedding. She was only acting as a carrier,” said a senior AIU officer.

Shaikh was to hand over the gold to Faheem MK from Kerala, who was waiting for her outside the airport. However, even he was arrested by the AIU. After her arrival from Dubai, Shaikh managed to clear the green channel with the gold.

“Examination of a pressure cooker, brought in as part of her checked-in-baggage, resulted in recovery of two pieces of spherical gold plates weighing 966 grams.They were concealed in the pressure pan and were painted in chrome to avoid suspicion,” the officer said.

Shaikh was also found wearing gold payals weighing 73 grams. The total gold recovered from her was more than a kilogram and was valued at Rs31.52 lakh. The gold was seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.