Monday, October 05, 2015

Whopping Rs 8.5 cr Gold Seized at Madurai Airport

Madurai:  In a major haul, sleuths of the Chennai zone of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 31.758 kg of gold worth `8.43 crore allegedly smuggled by some passengers who landed at the Madurai airport on Saturday afternoon in a Mihin Lanka flight from Colombo and a SpiceJet plane from Dubai.

DRI sources said that 10 passengers who acted as ‘couriers’ were being interrogated in this regard, while three others were arrested under the Customs Act of 1962.

A major chunk of the consignment, which included gold bars, biscuits and tola bars,  weighing about 23 kg and wrapped in chocolate covers, was recovered from inside the Mihin Lanka flight.

According to DRI officials, since these flights would later make domestic trips from Madurai to Chennai, new ‘couriers’ would pick up the contraband from the pre-designated spots inside the flights. Also, being domestic passengers, they would not be subject to Customs checks.
05/10/15 New Indian Express
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