Indian Customs detains Police official found involved in gold smuggling

MUMBAI (Scrap Monster): A police official on deputation at Airport Immigration Department at the Chennai International Airport was arrested Tuesday for trying to carry 2 kilograms of smuggled gold out of the airport. The police official is believed to have been assigned the task of handing over the gold to outside agents. According to sources, the policeman had received the gold from a passenger who landed at the airport from Colombo.

The Air Customs officers had a tip-off that the passenger landing from Colombo would be carrying undeclared gold. The passenger was under observation by the officials. The officials intercepted the passenger when he was about to leave the airport through green channel after finishing all check-out formalities. However, the officials could not recover any gold from him.

The officials upon checking the call history of his mobile phone found that he had called the policeman, who was on duty then. The passenger was detained and later arrested. The Customs officials waited until the end of duty time and followed the policeman. On his way down in lift, he was nabbed. The two kilograms of gold concealed in a bag was seized from him.

The Customs officials refused to provide the details of the policeman, but confirmed that a person in uniform was being questioned by them in connection with the gold smuggling act.

The imposition of higher gold import duties and other regulatory curbs, gold smuggling has become rampant in the country. According to Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), gold smuggling in India has surged seven-fold during 2013-’14.