Along with the precious metal, officials have also recovered foreign currency worth ₹22 lakh in two different cases on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the first case of smuggling, an Indian national was caught with 9.895 kg of gold worth ₹5.20 crore. The officers received a tip of the smuggling and nabbed the person, who was returning from Dubai, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
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The person, who was asked by two Sudanese passengers to smuggle gold, had concealed gold in a specially designed chest belt with nine pockets. It was wrapped around his chest and shoulder. Later, the Sudanese passenger was also caught by the authority. All three passengers were sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
In the second case, 1.875 kg of gold worth Rs. 99.75 lakh was turned into dust and concealed in undergarments for smuggling. The custom duty officers had seized the gold from an Indian national who was traveling to Mumbai from Chennai.
A similar technique of concealing gold dust packets in undergarments was used by two passengers arriving from Jeddah to Mumbai. Both of them were carrying 1.068 kg and 1.185 kg of gold worth Rs. 56,81,760 and Rs. 58,78,600 respectively. The custom officials seized the precious metal and arrested the smugglers.
In the fourth case, a Sudanese smuggler tried to conceal 973 grams of gold dust worth ₹51,17,980 in wax in egg form. The passenger had arrived from Dubai and had concealed the golden eggs in his rectum. However, he could not cheat the Mumbai custom duty officials and was caught red-handed at the airport.
Custom Duty seized 95,000 Dirhams concealed in biscuit packets
Out of the two separate cases of seizing foreign currency, an Indian passenger was caught by the customs duty officials in the first case for illegally carrying 50,000 Dirhams concealed inside the Customised round-shaped cavity of the biscuits stuffed in the packet. The passenger was travelling from Mumbai to Dubai and was caught after crossing the Customs declaration counter.
In the second case, another Indian national used the same trick to conceal 45,000 Dirhams inside the customised round-shaped cavity of the biscuits stuffed in a packet. The passenger was caught in the departure DFS area after crossing the customs declaration counter.
(With inputs from ANI)
