Indian Customs seize 3 kg unclaimed gold from passenger flight

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) under the Indian Customs Department seized three kilograms of abandoned gold from a private air carrier that arrived at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad from Dubai. The gold worth Rs. 80.32 lakh was found hidden beneath a seat. The seized gold was accounted as unclaimed goods under the Customs Act 1962. Further investigations are on, said Customs officials.

According to Customs, the flight 016 belonging to SpiceJet had arrived at 11.30 PM on Saturday night from Dubai. After all passengers alighted, the flight crew noticed a suspicious package underneath a seat. The AIU unit in the airport was soon alerted. Upon opening the packet, the officials found three gold bars weighing one kilogram each.

The flight after its stopover in the airport was scheduled to operate on domestic route. The officials suspect that the gold was intentionally left in the airport so that the domestic passenger could take it to the intended destination. They point out that it is easy to take gold out of domestic terminal when compared with the strict Customs check at the arrival area of international terminal. The role of aircraft maintenance staff is also under check, as these personnel normally clean the flight ahead of its next journey in domestic route early morning next day.

The gold smuggling incidents at the airport has surged higher during the past two weeks. This is the eighth gold smuggling act caught during this period. The airport has reported 13 gold smuggling incidents in till date 2015. Airport customs and DRI officials have seized 70.43 kilograms of gold worth nearly Rs 18.50 crores since January last year.

According to Ministry of Commerce and Industry, gold worth Rs 931.55 has been seized during the first ten months (Apr ’14 to Jan ’15) of this fiscal year. The value of seized gold during this period is already higher than the seizures during the previous three financial years put together. A total of 3,412 cases were registered during the ten-month period.