AHMEDABAD: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs department caught two women smuggling 2.05 kg of gold worth Rs 54.47 lakh at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Wednesday morning. The women were travelling separately and had concealed gold in juicer and meat grinder.
According to sources, customs officials inspected the machines after finding that their weight was more than mentioned on the packages.
Customs officials said that Thane-based Yasmeen Salik Shaikh arrived from a SpiceJet flight from Dubai. “She had hidden gold plates inside a juice mixer. Gold was coated with mercury to avoid detection. Scientifically, gold and mercury cannot co-exist,” said an official. Officials said that she was carrying 1.022 kg of gold worth Rs 27.15 lakh.
In another case, Mumbai-based Afroz Shaikh was caught with 1.025 kg of gold worth Rs 27.22 lakh. Shaikh had arrived from a Jet Airways flight from Abu Dhabi. “Afroz had also wrapped gold with mercury and concealed in spare parts of grinder,” added a customs official.
According to sources, both women are first-time offenders. Further investigation and legal proceedings in both the cases are underway.
In the last one week, five cases of smuggling have been detected at the city airport.
Sources said that in the recent times, smugglers have been increasingly using women as carriers to escape detection at international airports in the country. Also, the sudden increase in smuggling can be attributed to the festive season when the demand of gold remains high, they said.
Since January, 35 incidents of smuggling have been report in which around 39.5 kg of gold worth Rs 10.62 crore has been seized at the airport by customs and DRI officials. As many as 38 smugglers/carriers have been detained.
