MUMBAI: Indian Customs has seized 10 kg gold worth more than Rs 2 crore from five flyers at the international airport in the last 48 hours. One passenger was travelling with two passports and the customs department has handed him over to the Bureau of Immigration.
“After a brief lull, we found a sudden spurt in gold smuggling cases,” said a customs officer here the other day.
On Monday night, Huzaifa Patanwala and Irfan Ismail were arrested with gold bars worth Rs 90 lakh after the two walked through the green channel. Patanwala was carrying 466 gm gold, while 3.1 kg gold was seized from Irfan, who was travelling on a British passport.
On Tuesday night, Tauseef Raees was taken into custody and gold bars worth Rs 50 lakh were recovered from him. He had dropped the gold bars in a toilet dustbin. Another passenger, Abbas Abdullah, who had been travelling with two passports, was arrested with the yellow metal valued at Rs 17.5 lakh. The customs also seized gold worth Rs 52 lakh from another flyers, Mohammed Hilmy, on Tuesday night.
