Gold biscuits worth Rs 40 lakh seized at airport

Officials of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of customs seized gold biscuits worth about '40 lakh at the Mumbai airport terminal-2. The last big seizure at the airport was made on May 3 involving 19 gold biscuits weighing about 2.2 kg and worth almost Rs 60 lakh.

Confirming the seizure, a top official from AIU said, “We have arrested two people, one of whom was the carrier and the other the receiver.” Officials are trying to determine the origin of the gold and identify its sender, sources said.

According to the AIU sources, on Saturday at about 2 pm, on the basis of suspicious behaviour of a passenger, officials intercepted one Suresh Ganesan, who had arrived from Singapore by a Jet Airways flight. Ganesan was travelling on a Malaysian passport, sources said.

When officials searched this person, they recovered 14 gold bars of 100 grams each. The gold has a current market value of Rs 39,82,286.

“The gold was strapped around his waist,” said an official. Subsequently, the officials arrested him and during the interrogation he said that he was going to hand over the bars to a person in Mumbai via a girl named Pooja Biswas. According to the AIU sources, following Ganeshan’s direction, officials arrested Biswas too. She was waiting at the arrival gate of terminal – 2.

Meanwhile AIU sources informed The Asian Age that Biswas worked in a boutique in the city, which will also be investigated in the case.