NEW DELHI: Customs officials at the Mangaluru International Airport have seized smuggled gold, cigarettes and foreign currency worth over Rs. 93 lakh during April 2016. Gold weighing about 2.2 kg was seized on two occasions. The consignment was ingeniously concealed in an attempt to smuggle it.
In the first case, primary gold was concealed in the motor portion of a mixer grinder while in the second case, two cylindrical shape gold rods were concealed in battery portion of mobile power banks. The value of gold seized in these two cases is estimated to be over Rs. 68 lakh. One passenger was also arrested in this connection.
On gathering inputs that there is a surge in smuggling of foreign currency by passengers leaving for Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the officers kept special watch on movements of certain profiled passengers. This resulted in six seizures of foreign currency being smuggled out of India equivalent to Rs. 22.88 lakh. Further, five cases of smuggling of cigarettes of various foreign brands valued at Rs. 2.44 lakh were detected and the contraband seized, said M. Subramaniyam, Commissioner of Customs, Mangaluru, in a release here.
