NEW DELHI: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here today seized 2.15 kg gold worth Rs 57 lakhs. The gold was found abandoned in the men’s toilet at the arrival point of an aircraft.
Capt Sanjay Gahlot, Customs Commissioner, while confirming the incident said the seizure was made from the Qatar airways flight no. QR 550. There were two and a half pieces of gold which were wrapped in a plastic cover. The gold consignment was kept at the partition of the two toilets, he said.
The AIU found the biscuits during a rummaging process. They got suspicious after finding a packet at the partition of the two toilets in the plane. Immediately, the packets were opened in the presence of the officials concerned.
Captain Gahlot said a case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Customs Act in this regard. He said investigations were going on to find out who had abandoned the gold there.
This is the third seizure made by the customs department in the recent past. Earlier, it had confiscated eight gold biscuits worth Rs 24 lakh from a Mumbai resident, Kamal Hari Lala Makhija, on the intervening night of August 20-21. According to the customs authorities, he had alighted from an Air India flight. The gold biscuits, weighing around 930 gm, were concealed in his rectum.
Before this incident, the customs authorities had caught its superintendent on the charges of gold smuggling on July 6. He had facilitated the safe exit of a passenger who was carrying gold illegally and had alighted from a Dubai flight. The passenger had later handed over two gold biscuits worth Rs 9 lakh as a commission to him. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had a tip-off that a passenger alighting from a flight from Dubai was involved in the smuggling of gold. Later, they came to know that the alleged smuggler had contacted the superintendent to facilitate his safe exit. The ED officials kept a watch on the movements of the superintendent. In the evening, when he was leaving after office hours, the Customs and ED officials intercepted him and searched his car and found the gold biscuits.
Similarly, the AIU of customs had seized 1.75 kg gold worth Rs 41 lakh from two passengers, Balkar Singh and Karnail Singh, residents of Khanna and Ludhiana, respectively, in January 2014.
