Customs officers at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday seized 2,755 grams of gold valued at ₹3.8 crore and arrested an Indian passenger in connection with an alleged gold smuggling attempt.
The passenger, who had arrived from Sharjah by Flight No. IX-136 on June 1, was intercepted at the bus gate upon arrival.
Acting on intelligence input, officials launched a follow-up operation onboard the aircraft to trace and recover the suspected contraband. During a detailed search of the aircraft, officers recovered two black-coloured pouches weighing approximately 3,550 grams.
The gold in paste form were found concealed in pouches beneath Seat No. 22C, which was located immediately in front of Seat No. 23C occupied by the suspect passenger, officials said.
Authorities said the recovered gold was appraised at a tariff value of ₹3,80,48,523. The gold, concealed in paste form, was seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 and the passenger has been arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962.
Further investigation is underway.
Two men booked for smuggling gold at Delhi airport
In a similar incident, two Indian passengers were booked at the Indira Gandhi International airport on May 13 for attempting to smuggle 233.5gm and 117gm of gold, respectively, Customs officials said.
The officials added that the two had arrived on different flights from Jeddah and Doha at Terminal 3.
“Detailed examination revealed a modus operandi wherein water bottles had been specially modified with fake bottoms concealing circular pieces of raw gold coated with silver colour and meticulously crafted to fit inside,” said an official.
A video shared by Customs officials showed an official slamming a blue water bottle on the floor, leading to the recovery of a circular bottom which later turned out to be gold.
DRI busts airport gold-smuggling racket
In another incident, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had busted an alleged gold-smuggling syndicate operating through Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, seizing 3 kg of smuggled foreign-origin gold worth ₹4.8 crore and arresting a food outlet employee accused of helping ferry the contraband out of the airport.
