AIU arrests six, seizes gold worth Rs 96 lakh

Mumbai: The air intelligence unit (AIU) officials of Mumbai customs arrested six passengers in separate cases in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday and seized 3.5 kg smuggled gold worth Rs 96 lakh from them. The passengers had flown in from Dubai through different airliners. They are being questioned about their trips and seized gold.

According to the AIU sources, a team of ‘A’ batch intercepted a passenger Mukeshkumar Patel after he arrived from Dubai in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

“After the officials searched him, they recovered one crude gold bracelet (kada) and a crude gold chain, all weighing 346 grams. Around the same time, the officers intercepted four more passengers all coming from Dubai in the same flight,” said an AIU officer.

The personal search of these four passengers including two woman passengers resulted in the recovery of eight crude gold bangles, four crude gold chain and two crude gold bracelets.

The officers collectively recovered 3196 grams of crude gold valued at Rs 85.54 lakh from the five passengers travelling in the same flight.

“All the arrested persons were travelling on a single PNR and hence we booked a single case against five of them before placing them under arrest,” added the AIU officer.

In the same night, AIU’s ‘A’ batch, posted in the inline baggage section identified one suspicious suitcase during the screening of the bags of flight from Dubai. The passenger was then intercepted after he had cleared the green channel.

AIU examined the contents of the suitcase and recovered gold foils weighing 348 grams worth Rs 9.31 lakh.

Officials said that the passenger, identified as Abbas Mavval, had concealed the gold foils between two layers of black coloured adhesive tape stuck to the bottom of the suitcase.