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PANAJI: The air intelligence wing of the of commissionerate of customs on Wednesday seized 9.44kg gold worth 2.65 crore, which was being smuggled by a 22-year-old woman through the Goa international airport at Dabolim.
Four packets, containing 81 gold bars, were found on the woman, said customs officials. This is second major haul of smuggled gold this month.
The accused, Shaheen Hussain Gadkar, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka, was apprehended by a team of customs officials who detained her after they were alerted by her suspicious behaviour.
Officials said that Gadkar looked nervous and was walking in an awkward manner.
“She had nearly 10kg of gold on her and was uncomfortable while walking,” an official said.
Customs officials, led by assistant commissioner Sekhar Jain, superintendents S K Singh and V G Naik, investigating officers Sandeep, Manoj Kumar and Shilpa Kakodkar, under the supervision of joint commissioner S K Sinha, questioned the woman who confessed that she had been told to carry the gold to Goa.
According to the customs officers, Gadkar said that she had gone to Dubai on June 9 to look for a job, but after a fruitless search, while returning she was asked to smuggle the gold. Gadkar was wearing a burqa and had stuffed the four packets of gold into the pockets of the trousers that she was wearing.
Gadkar flew to Goa alone by Air India flight 994, which landed in Dabolim at around 4.30am, customs officials informed. The accused has been placed under arrest by the custom authorities.
On June 11, the same customs unit had apprehended another Bhatkal resident, 44-year-old Sajeed Ahmed Ekkier, for attempting to smuggle gold through the international airport, and had seized 7.705kg of gold, valued at around Rs 2.15 crore.
