The arrest of the air passenger led to the subsequent arrest of the two other suspects.
The passenger was apprehended for smuggling over 1.5 kg of gold, worth Rs 80 lakh. The investigation revealed that two other individuals, including a ground staff and another individual working with an airline, were also involved in the case. As per the officials, they have assisted in smuggling gold worth Rs 2,36,34,469 so far.
“During investigation, it was discovered that the passenger attempted to smuggle the aforementioned gold and tried to hand it over to a person working as a customer service agent (CSA) at the IGI Airport. The CSA acted covertly to collect the gold from the passenger, aiming to clear it from the airport without declaring it to the authorities,” a Customs officer said.
The officer added that the passenger admitted to illegally importing the recovered gold, weighing 1536.59 gram (extracted from gold paste).
The CSA confessed that he had been involved in three previous instances of smuggling approximately 3 kg gold/gold paste. On each occasion, he would collect the gold/gold paste from the passengers and hand it over to an individual who worked for United Airlines at the IGI Airport.
The trio has been arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act. The gold recovered from the passenger has been seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act.
News Credits – I A N S
