Delhi: Customs officials seize 2.5 kg gold worth Rs 1 crore at IGI airport; one detained

On Tuesday morning, November 16, the Customs Department at the Indira Gandhi International Airport seized 2.5 kilogrammes of gold worth Rs 1 crore hidden behind the plane's seat. According to Customs officers, the gold was hidden in the life jacket and tucked under the seat in a SpiceJet flight from Dubai. The suspected passenger is an Indian national returning to his homeland after being detained for three years. He stated that he was instructed to leave the gold on the plane. More investigation is being carried out on the matter, news agency ANI reported. 

According to Customs officials, almost 2 kilogrammes of gold worth Rs 90.17 lakh was seized, and an air passenger who landed here from Abu Dhabi on November 7 was arrested in connection with the seizure. The sleuths apprehended the guy in the morning and recovered the gold hidden in his luggage after receiving information that the precious metal was being smuggled into India. Under the Customs Act of 1962, he was arrested and the metal was seized, news agency PTI reported.

Gold biscuits worth Rs 1.08 crore seized

In a similar event, a man was apprehended from a Howrah-bound train at West Bengal's New Jalpaiguri Railway Station, and gold biscuits worth Rs 1.08 crore were confiscated from his hands, according to DRI officials. DRI sleuths stopped the man from a reserved compartment of a train bound for Guwahati, and after discovering anomalies in his replies during questioning, searched him and discovered 13 gold biscuits in his hands, according to them. The individual, Sheikh Saiful Rahman, is a Howrah native, according to the officials.

In September, customs officials at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) seized gold worth Rs 13.88 lakh that had been smuggled by a passenger.  A man from Kerala's Kasaragod district was apprehended with 293.62 kilos (net) of 24-carat pure gold worth Rs 13,88,823.  Air India IXE384 had brought the traveller in from Dubai.  The gold was hidden beneath two layers of black-coloured linen and a pink and maroon-coloured floral-patterned blanket. A case was filed, according to a customs release, news agency PTI reported.

(with inputs from ANI/ PTI)

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