Over Rs 4 crore worth of smuggled goods seized on Diwali: DRI

The total value of the gold was Rs 3.26 crore, it said. Some of the passengers were carrying six lakh foreign origin cigarettes valued at Rs 1.03 crore and latest I-phone and drones worth Rs 53 lakh, the release said.

Coimbatore, Nov 20 (PTI): Gold, mobile phones, drones and cigarettes of foreign origin, totally worth Rs 4.82 crore, were seized at the airport here on Diwali day, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said on Friday. Acting on inputs, passengers arriving from Sharjah by an Air Arabia flight were subjected to intensive checks on November 14, the day of the festival of lights, a press release from DRI release said.

The checks exposed 15 passengers, hailing from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, carrying gold in paste form that was concealed in their undergarments and rectums, the release said. The total value of the gold was Rs 3.26 crore, it said.

Some of the passengers were carrying six lakh foreign origin cigarettes valued at Rs 1.03 crore and latest I-phone and drones worth Rs 53 lakh, the release said. Out of the 15 passengers, 11 were carrying smuggled goods estimated to cost Rs 20 lakh, it said.

The 11 were arrested and later released on bail, the release said. This is the second major gold-smuggling case detected by DRI this month and the largest seizure of cigarettes ever made in the Coimbatore airport, the release added.

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