Mumbai: In a span of two days, the Customs department arrested seven passengers, including three Sudanese nationals at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for allegedly trying to smuggle in nearly 15kg gold worth ₹7.87 crore.
The Customs officials said one of the seven accused had concealed the gold bars in a specially made chest belt that he wore under his shirt, whereas another Indian passenger had hidden the gold in his undergarment, and a Sudanese national tried to smuggle the bar by concealing it in his body.
The Customs department regularly profiles passengers who look suspicious. During this exercise on Wednesday, officials of Customs’ Air Intelligence Unit stopped a suspected passenger, Mohammed Sameda, who arrived on an Emirates flight.
His personal search led to the recovery of 9 gold bars, and a small piece of gold, totally weighing around 10 kilograms, hidden in the specially stitched chest belt. The seized gold is estimated to be worth ₹5.20 crore, said a Customs official.
Sameda, who works as a clerk in Dubai, during questioning told Customs officials that the two persons who had given him the gold at the Dubai airport for smuggling into India too travelled with him on the same flight. On their arrival, the two Sudanese nationals – Mansour Elmukashfi, 44, and Mohammed Salih Eltelb, 41, were also arrested by the Customs. Officials said both the Sudanese nationals are garment traders.
In another case, an Indian national who had arrived from Chennai to Mumbai on an IndiGo flight, which earlier landed from Sharjah, was caught smuggling gold dust packets weighing 1.875 Kgs valued at around ₹99.75 lakh. He had concealed the contraband in his undergarment, the officer added.
In a third operation, two Indian passengers who had arrived from Jeddah by flight Saudia SV 772 were intercepted and searched and gold in dust form weighing 1,068 grams and 1,185 grams valued at ₹56.81 lakh and ₹58.78 lakh respectively were seized from them. They had concealed the gold in their undergarments.
In the fourth operation, a Sudanese national who had arrived by Emirates flight EK-504 from Dubai was arrested for smuggling gold dust in wax form, weighing 973 grams and valued at ₹51.17 lakh. The smuggled gold dust in wax in egg form was found concealed in the rectum of the passenger, Customs officials said.
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Two Dirham smugglers held with ₹21L currency
The customs department has also arrested two Indians for allegedly trying to smuggle out 95,000 Dirhams worth ₹21 lakh from Mumbai to Dubai, concealed inside a customised cavity.