NEW DELHI: Officials have been in for a shock when 11kg of gold seized from passengers, who had tried to smuggle it by means of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in 5 totally different incidents, have been discovered to be metal items when the packets have been opened earlier than a departmental committee for disposal.
Valued at Rs 3 crore, the mysterious disappearance of the confiscated gold from the customs warehouse has raised critical considerations over the division’s credibility in dealing with costly gadgets seized each day. The matter is now beneath probe. A case underneath Section 409 of the IPC was registered towards unknown individuals for legal breach of belief by public servant on Friday at IGIA police station.
A senior customs official stated the incident got here to mild when packets containing eleven.261kg of the yellow metal, coated and sealed at the occasion of courts, have been opened earlier than a departmental committee as a part of stock proceedings.
“The packets have been unsealed in order that the gold could possibly be disposed off, however they turned out to be items of yellow-colored metal. The alternative has raised critical questions on the credibility of the division. We are probing at which stage the alternative passed off as it isn’t needed it happened at the warehouse,” stated an official.
Both police and customs officers haven’t dominated out the involvement of insiders. Interestingly, the metal with which the 11kg of gold was replaced with weighs solely 8.725kg. “It is a really critical matter. The division will present all help to the police to seek out out the culprits,” the official stated.
This is just not the primary time that such an incident has come to mild. Last yr, FIRs have been filed on January sixteen, January 20, April 30 and December 23 to probe comparable situations of theft the place gold value lakhs was replaced by a yellow metal.
“We might be issuing a discover to the custodian of the warehouse as a part of investigation proceedings,” a senior police official stated.
