Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Gold worth ₹30cr seized at city airport over past 4 yrs

Jaipur: Smuggling of gold by passengers arriving at Jaipur International Airport has been rising with at least 20 cases being reported every year since 2019. Over the past four years, over 75 cases of gold smuggling have been reported, said officials. This year, 15 cases have already been reported so far.

Officials said the primary modus operandi adopted by smugglers is hiding gold in batteries, locks, trolley bags, purse, wearing them as thick bangles, under garments, shoes, radio, wireless speaker, mouth, paste form in rectum and in under garments, dessert maker machine, vacuum cleaner, electric grinder machine, emergency light, skating shoes, black pepper packet, meat grinder and trimmers.

Bharat Bhushan Atal, assistant commissioner for customs at Jaipur International Airport said, “Smuggling of gold happens in many ways. People hide gold in their mouth, appliances, even creams and cosmetics as the latest case that was caught on Sunday. Every few months, the modus operandi changes so we are always vigilant. After the lockdown, cases of smuggling have increased. One of the largest cases till now was in 2020 when in three different charter flights, 32kg of gold was seized that the passengers brought hiding in emergency lights.”

On Sunday, the customs officials based on an intelligence alert intercepted a passenger who arrived by Air India Flight No. AI 611 from Mumbai at 12.55pm. The passenger originally came from Doha to Mumbai on Sunday and then to Jaipur. On examination of his checked-in baggage of a trolley bag in the x-ray machine, some dark dense metallic image was noticed. On opening the bag, seven sticks of gold were found concealed in three cosmetic cream tubes.

19/07/22 Times of India

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