Massive gold haul at Mumbai Intl Airport; 18 kg gold seized in a single day

MUMBAI (Scrap Monster): In what is considered as the largest single-day haul to-date, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Indian Customs seized 18 kilograms of smuggled gold at Mumbai International Airport. The officers are reported to have spoiled four separate attempts of gold smuggling at the country’s busiest airport on the same day, seizing gold worth Rs.5 crore. With this, the total gold seizure at the airport has climbed to Rs.83 crore.

In the first incident, three kilograms of the precious metal were detected from the toilet of Jet Airways 9W537 flight from Dubai on its domestic leg to Udaipur. The gold bars were found hidden behind the mirrors inside aircraft lavatory. A similar quantity of gold was recovered from Jet Airways 9W543 flight from Dubai scheduled to fly to Hyderabad.

Later during the day, seven Mauritius nationals including two women were arrested for carrying 37 gold bangles and 5 crude kadas worth approximately Rs.1.5 crores. They had arrived from Bangkok in Thai Airways TG 317 flight. The accused were booked under relevant sections of the Customs Act.

In the last case, sleuths caught hold of an Indian passenger who disembarked from Air India flight AI984 from Dubai. He was caught red handed while trying to hand over gold to a domestic passenger who was about to board another flight to Delhi. Plain gold jewellery worth Rs.1.92 crores were recovered from the person.

The Customs and Revenue Intelligence authorities at the Mumbai International Airport have spoiled several attempts of gold smuggling in the past few months. However, this is described as the largest gold-seizure in a single day at the airport.