Hyderabad: In a rare instance, three persons including the customer service officer of Indigo Airlines were arrested at the Shamshabad airport for smuggling gold into the country on Friday.
It all started when the airline officer was leaving with two packets at the exit gate at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) personnel along with two other persons. DRI officials stopped him and opened the parcels on suspicion and hit pay dirt. The officials found 42 bars of gold worth Rs 1.84 crore.
The officer stated that two passengers who had landed in an aircraft from Dubai handed him the packet. He told the DRI personnel that the passengers had travelled in Emirates Flight EK 528 from Dubai.
The sleuths asked him for the documents required to transport large quantities of gold into the country, but he could not produce and papers. Neither could the other two persons with him.
On further enquiry the passenger and the receivers admitted that the gold was smuggled into the country and they did not have any documents to prove the purchase or import of gold.
According to the DRI officials, the foreign marked gold bars were found to be of 99.9 per cent purity, weighing 4,891.200 grams in all, valued at Rs 1,84,88,736 crore.
The sleuths seized the gold and arrested the three persons and booked a case under Customs Act, 1962 and further investigations are on.
