Man caught smuggling gold worth Rs 19.37 lakh in jeans, socks

MUMBAI: A man who managed to dodge customs last week wasn’t lucky the second time as he was caught with gold bars that weighed 700 grams early on Monday.

MUMBAI: A man who managed to dodge customs last week wasn’t lucky the second time as he was caught with gold bars that weighed 700 grams early on Monday.

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The Air Intelligence Unit( AI U) intercepted accused Sugesh Suriyanarayanan who holds an Indian passport and had arrived from Singapore. “A detailed personal search and interrogation of the passenger resulted in the recovery of 7 gold bars of 100 grams each and are provisionally valued at Rs19.37 lakh,” said a high-ranking AIU officer. “Based on intelligence, we were trying to intercept the passenger last week but he managed to get away as there were too many passengers,” said the officer.

AIU stated that the gold bars were concealed inside the jeans pocket and the socks worn by the passenger. The passenger’s statement was recorded but he was not arrested as the value of the seized gold was less than Rs 20 lakh.

A case has been registered under the customs act.

In order to detect more cases of smuggling, the AIU even asks suspects about their purpose of visit and if there are inconclusive replies, they resort to checks.

Passengers use various methods to smuggle gold out of the airport such as concealing the precious metal in footwear, mobile phones, DVD players, suitcases, undergarments and clothes.

The AIU is keeping a close watch on involvement of staffers who work within the airport premises.

The AIU sources said they resort to passenger profiling in order to detect cases of gold smuggling. Suspicious passengers are frisked and checked.