The Customs Department arrested an Indian couple at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on July 13 on the charge of attempting to smuggle in 45 guns brought from France.
Those arrested have been identified as Jagjit Singh and Jaswinder Kaur, residents of Defence Colony in Haryana’s Gurugram. They arrived at the IGI Airport’s Terminal-3 on July 11 from Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam by flight no.VJ 895. During interrogation, the accused told the agency they had earlier smuggled in 25 such guns valued at ₹12.50 lakh from Turkey.
Customs Commissioner (Airport & General) Zubair Riaz Kamili said Mr. Jagjit’s elder brother Manjit Singh was into smuggling of goods and details about his previous involvements were available in the Customs database. He reached by flight AF 226 around the same time his younger brother and wife came from Vietnam along with their 18-month-old daughter.
It is alleged that Mr. Manjit had brought two trolley bags from Paris. However, he did not pick them up from the baggage carousel. The bags were collected by Mr. Jagjit and his wife to avoid detection, given that Mr. Manjit was already on the Customs Department’s radar. Ms. Jaswinder Kaur, allegedly being a part of the conspiracy to smuggle in the guns, helped Mr. Jagjit in removing and destroying the tags of both bags.
An agency official said an X-ray scanner had also detected several gun-like devices kept in the two bags.
The couple had crossed the Green Channel of the arrival hall and were approaching the exit gate when the Customs officials intercepted them after their activities raised a suspicion. Mr. Manjit had slipped out of the airport by then. The officials checked the bags and found 45 “assorted brand” guns estimated to be worth about ₹22.50 lakh. Subsequently, the agency contacted the National Security Guard (NSG) experts to examine the guns.
“The two accused have been arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act. The child has been handed over to their grandmother,” said Mr. Kamili.
