Woman among 8 held for smuggling gold, goods worth crores at Delhi airport

Eight people including a woman were arrested at Delhi airport last week for their alleged involvement in separate incidents of smuggling gold and other items worth crores of rupees, Customs officials said on Monday. In the first incident, two Indians landed in the net upon their arrival from the UAE for allegedly smuggling gold bars worth over Rs 24 lakh, they said.

The two were intercepted by Customs officials after they had crossed the Green Channel post their arrival at the Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport from Abu Dhabi by an Etihad Airways flight. A personal and baggage search of the passengers resulted in recovery of five gold bars and one cut piece of gold bar, weighing 676 gms having a tariff value of Rs 24,18,786, the officials said.

The gold has been seized and the two passengers arrested under relevant provisions of the Customs Act, they said. During questioning, they admitted to have smuggled out Saudi Riyal 53,000 and USD 50,000 in their previous visits, they said.

The passengers also admitted they smuggled 1.2 kgs of gold and commercial goods worth Rs 28,74,000 in their previous visits, making the total value of the smuggled goods to Rs 1,41,34,348, the officials said. In the second incident, two Indians, who arrived at Delhi airport from Saudi Arabia's Jeddah via Abu Dhabi on September 5, were arrested for allegedly smuggling five gold cut pieces weighing 648 grams worth Rs 23,09,316, they said.

The passengers admitted to have smuggled gold, commercial goods and currency with a total value of Rs 1,77,40,102 in their previous visits, the officials said. In the third incident, an Indian, who arrived from Hong Kong and two more Indians scheduled to go to Mumbai were intercepted by the Customs officers who seized mobile phones, laptop batteries and memory cards worth Rs 4,03,64,328, the officials said.

The recovered items were seized and the three arrested under relevant provisions of the Customs Act, they said. They admitted to have smuggled memory cards worth Rs 4,50,15,000 in their past four visits, the officials said.

Also, an Indian woman, who arrived from Dubai, was arrested for allegedly carrying two oval-shaped balls weighing 603 gms containing 301 gms of gold in paste form, worth Rs 10,86,875, they said. She admitted to smuggling 375 gms of gold in her past visits. The total quantity of gold smuggled by her amounts to 676 gms with a market value of Rs 22,13,105, the officials added.

For the purpose of Customs clearance of arriving passengers, a two-channel system has been adopted under which the Green Channel is for passengers not having any dutiable goods, while the Red Channel for those having dutiable goods.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)