Pune: Customs officials at the Lohegaon airport recently caught a woman - suspected to be a part of an international syndicate - trying to smuggle half-a- kilogram of gold on-board a domestic flight.
According to officials, the SpiceJet flight (SG517) flies from Bangkok to Kolkata before it turns into a domestic flight connecting Goa and Pune. A customs official said they believed that the gold was smuggled on-board the flight on its international leg and concealed inside a washroom in the front portion of the plane.
The person running the syndicate knew the flight schedule in depth and booked a ticket for the woman - a carrier for the syndicate - on the domestic leg from Goa to Pune, the official said.
The woman, on Seat Number 32E, retrieved the four gold bars - totally weighing 557.64 grams and worth Rs18.9 lakh - and taped them to the soles of her black shoes. She used black adhesive tape to camouflage them.
The customs officials received a tip-off and laid a trap for her at the airport. "This was an important catch as there are no customs checks on domestic routes. In such cases, we can only act on tip-offs, as it is not possible to conduct searches on every domestic flight," the official said.
"This particular flight turns domestic after flying international. She collected the gold from the covered space below the wash basin in washroom," the official explained.
16/07/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
According to officials, the SpiceJet flight (SG517) flies from Bangkok to Kolkata before it turns into a domestic flight connecting Goa and Pune. A customs official said they believed that the gold was smuggled on-board the flight on its international leg and concealed inside a washroom in the front portion of the plane.
The person running the syndicate knew the flight schedule in depth and booked a ticket for the woman - a carrier for the syndicate - on the domestic leg from Goa to Pune, the official said.
The woman, on Seat Number 32E, retrieved the four gold bars - totally weighing 557.64 grams and worth Rs18.9 lakh - and taped them to the soles of her black shoes. She used black adhesive tape to camouflage them.
The customs officials received a tip-off and laid a trap for her at the airport. "This was an important catch as there are no customs checks on domestic routes. In such cases, we can only act on tip-offs, as it is not possible to conduct searches on every domestic flight," the official said.
"This particular flight turns domestic after flying international. She collected the gold from the covered space below the wash basin in washroom," the official explained.
16/07/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
0 comments:
Post a Comment