Saturday, September 19, 2015

Air India flight AI-984 has turned into smuggling carrier

Vasco: Smuggling of gold into the country, especially through Air India flights from Dubai, has always been a concern for security agencies in Goa. With smugglers looking for new ways to smuggled gold though Dabolim airport, every day is a challenge for Goa Customs.
Goa Customs has intensified its vigil at the airport to foil smuggling attempts, which often involves smugglers concealing gold on their person or molding it into objects that attract least attention.
According to statistic from the customs department, most of the gold smuggling attempts reported this year was through Air India’s flight AI-984, which comes to Goa from Dubai via Mumbai airport. In most of those cases, the smugglers are usually residents of Bhatkal, Karnataka.
Over 20 cases of gold seizures were reported since January 2015, out of which at least 11 cases involved passengers from flight AI-984. Customs officials seized over 6 kilos of gold from the smugglers.
Customs officials have theories as to why that Air India flight and Bhatkal natives are common in most cases.
19/09/15 Navin Jha/Herald
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