AHMEDABAD: Indian customs caught a 38 years old woman who was coming from Sharjah, 8 gold bars weighting over 1.6 kilogram were hidden in her garments, two necklaces and four gold bangles concealed inside her purse at Ahmedabad Airport.
According to sources, the woman is a first time carrier and chose to enter through Ahmedabad in a bid to escape Customs. This is the first such incident in 2015 of gold smuggling. Since January 2014, customs department alone has seized 56.42 kg of gold, worth Rs 15.6 crore and detained 65 smugglers at city’s airport.
Further investigation in the case is under progress. It has been over 19 months since centre imposed restrictions on gold imports. According to Customs officials, due to the huge price difference of gold between middle-east and India, most of the cases of smuggling have been detected on the Dubai-Sharjah-Doha route.
Women are increasingly being used as carriers as they get benefit of doubt to a certain extent. Around 10 women have been detained by Customs department in 2014 for smuggling gold including a minor girl and a 60 year old woman in various cases.
On some occasions women have been caught wearing excessive jewellery and only after tough questioning they admitted to smuggling.
