NEW DELHI: A Maharashtran man was caught on Monday smuggling 407 grams of 24-carat gold concealed in his rectum on a return flight from Dubai to India.
The accused, Deepak Kumar, had arrived in an Indigo flight, and was nabbed by the local office of Director Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the customs staff. The market value of the gold seized is estimated to be Rs1.1 million.
Reportedly, the man who was caught has confessed to the crime. Deepak, who hails from Ullhasnagar, Maharashtra, is said to be working as a courier for a gang of smugglers. The officers are still struggling to find the underlying gang behind this act. However, the gold has been recovered, and Deepak is currently under the police custody.
The DRI officials said that smugglers had shifted their base form Delhi airport to Chandigarh airport, owing to the easier security check in Chandigarh.
However, despite these changes, the police uncovered the act of crime and are trying to locate the entire gang behind this smuggling. Smuggling of gold from Dubai to India is fairly common as the Middle Eastern country boasts of higher quality gold which is extremely valuable in the Indian market. With a difference is as high as 15-20%, the smuggled gold makes its way into the black market and gangs have been eating off profits in this process.
The DRI officials have been increased the security roundup in Chandigarh as well as the number of smuggling cases found in this region has increased in the recent times. International flights began landing in Chandigarh since September 15, 2016, and there have been five other cases of smuggling into this airport since then. The highest seizure so far from the Chandigarh airport has been worth Rs 37 lakhs when 1.3 kg of gold was found in the airport. The cases of people smuggling gold and other goods by hiding it in their rectum lining have been on the rise all over the world.
