MUMBAI: The Mumbai customs department has seized 18 kilograms of gold valued at ₹11.23 crore from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport over the past one week. Nine passengers, including two foreign nationals, who were carrying the precious metal concealed in sweet boxes and in the form of crude jewellery have been arrested in connection with smuggling gold, said officials.
In the first instance, the air intelligence unit on June 27 intercepted two foreign nationals based on spot profiling – one of them was travelling from Singapore while the other was travelling from Dar-es-Salaam. During a search, they found two pouches of 24-carat gold dust in wax and 10 crude 24-carat gold bangles weighing 2.08 kg concealed inside the waistband of their jeans. Both the passengers and their handler were subsequently arrested under the Customs Act.
In another incident, the air intelligence unit on June 30 intercepted six Indian nationals – four travelling from Abu Dhabi, one from Dubai and one from Bangkok. During a search, they were found to be carrying 24-carat gold dust in wax weighing 6.4 kg, which was concealed in their bodies. All six passengers were subsequently arrested.
In the third incident, the air intelligence unit intercepted 14 Indian nationals – eight were travelling to Mumbai from Dubai, three from Abu Dhabi and one each from Sharjah and Bhopal. The passengers were carrying illegal gold weighing 6.6 kg, concealed inside sweet boxes, undergarments, shoes and their baggage, said customs officials.
“After questioning the passengers, we recovered one pouch of gold in wax form from a toilet situated near the transit area, weighing 2.7 kg and valued at ₹1.71 crore. During further searches, we found another packet of gold in wax form, weighing 260 grams and valued ₹16 lakh, which was concealed under seat number 13A of Air India flight number AI-669,” said a customs official.