INDIA. Mumbai: In a significant development, on Friday, Mumbai Airport Customs detained 7 passengers—5 men and 2 women—in two distinct incidents within a single day and confiscated 61 kg of gold worth Rs 32 crore.
According to a Customs officer, the Metropolitan Magistrate court sentenced all of the apprehended suspects to 14 days of judicial imprisonment.
“On Nov 11, Mumbai Airport Customs foiled attempts to smuggle 61 Kg gold valued @ Rs 32 Crore. This was the highest ever seizure in a single day. 7 passengers were arrested”, Mumbai Custom tweeted.
In the first instance, the air intelligence unit (AIU) of Mumbai Customs, under the direction of Deputy Commissioner Manudev Jain, detained four Indians who were arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport from Tanzania.
They were discovered to be carrying 1 kg gold bars that had been smuggled, hidden under specially made waist belts that had many pockets wrapped around their torsos.
At the Doha airport, a Sudanese national gave the travellers the belts that had gold bars made in the UAE hidden inside. The citizen of Sudan did not go with them. The passengers were expected to transport it to Mumbai and receive Rs 50,000 each.
In another instance, the Mumbai Customs detained three passengers—a man and two women—who were travelling from Dubai and recovered 8 kg of gold worth Rs 3.88 crore. The waxy gold dust that the passengers were transporting was hidden in the waste line of the pants they were wearing. One of the accused individuals, who was in her late 60s, was utilising a wheelchair.
Sensitive flights departing from specific locations in Africa and the Middle East are routinely profiled for suspect passengers based on ongoing surveillance of suspicious flights and data-based analysis from past high-quantity gold and foreign currency seizures. “Operation Parchhai” is the cover name for this profiling (Operation shadowing).
The recent seizure of foreign currency valued at Rs 4.08 crore and the profiling of passengers revealed a method of operation that was used successfully in these situations.
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