INDIA. Mumbai: The Mumbai Airport customs seized 12 kg gold valued at Rs 5.38 crore from a specially designed belt worn by a Sudanese passenger and took into custody six passengers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Sunday.
Officers of Mumbai Airport Customs seized 12 Kg gold valued at Rs 5.38 Cr from a specially designed belt worn by a Sudanese passenger. Some passengers created commotion to help him escape but were overpowered. Six pax are detained & 6 are being deported @cbic_india @nsitharamanoffc, Mumbai Customs tweeted.
According to the customs, a group of six passengers, who had taken a flight from Dubai, created a commotion to help the accused carrying contraband escape, but they were overpowered. The officials said that it was a regular tactic to divert customs authorities’ attention while one gang member tried to smuggle contraband past the red channel.
The alert customs officials, however, checked the accused Hassan Ali passing through the red channel and found the 12 kg gold bars, weighing one kg each, hidden in a belt. “The contraband was seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act. We have booked a case of smuggling of gold in this respect,” an official said.
Five other Sudanese, who were hostile and aggressive to divert the attention of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers, were arrested along with Hassan Ali, carrying the gold. On being questioned, the accused said they were part of a group involved in gold smuggling.
The officer said that six other Sudanese passengers, who added to the commotion by constantly resisting the checking procedure, were sent to their country of origin with a permanent ban from entering India.
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