CHENNAI: Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai here the other day seized 62kg of gold smuggled from Singapore and Malaysia via Visakhapatnam airport.
A total of 55 passengers, hailing from Tamil Nadu, were arrested in this connection. The seized gold is valued at Rs 17 crore.
DRI authorities said they received information that traders from Tamil Nadu were landing at the Visakhapatnam airport, which is a newly commissioned international airport.
Following the information, authorities from Chennai landed at the airport in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday evening.
A set of 20 passengers, who came on Air Asia flight from Malaysia, were found carrying electronic goods. When the authorities checked the electronic gadgets brought by the passengers, they found the gold bars concealed inside them.
Another set of 10 passengers, who came from Singapore on a Silk Air flight, were also found carrying electronic goods. A search revealed gold bars.
A third batch of 25 passengers, who came from Malaysia, smuggled gold bars in the same manner as that of earlier two batches.
Among the 55 passengers, many were frequent travellers and most of them were acting as ‘couriers’. These people are mere carriers and their job ends with handing over the gold to someone outside the airport.
They indulge in such business for monetary considerations. Depending upon the quantity, the carriers would get paid, say the DRI authorities.
The couriers would always look for new avenues and new destinations. Another possibility is that new flights would have been introduced between Visakhapatnam and South East Asian destinations or the frequency of flights between the two destinations could have been increased. So it could have attracted the couriers to switch over to the new destination, away from their home, they said.
All the arrested 55 would be brought to Chennai for further interrogation. The DRI authorities with the accused were expected to land in Chennai on Tuesday, they added.
