An attempt to smuggle more than 15 kg of gold jewellery into the country from the Gulf was thwarted at the Chennai airport on Sunday morning. Four persons, all hailing from Karnataka, were arrested in this connection. It is the biggest haul of gold jewellery at the airport in over a decade.
Briefing reporters at the airport, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Commissioner of Customs (Airport), said inputs were received from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence more than a fortnight ago that gold might be smuggled into India through flights from the Gulf countries and that passengers heading to Karnataka might be the carriers.
Customs officials were keeping a close watch on the movement of people landing in Chennai from the Gulf, especially those hailing from Karnataka.
On Sunday morning, they intercepted three men who arrived by an Air India flight from Dubai. Though their baggage did not contain any valuables, on frisking the passengers, Customs officials noticed that the three men had wrapped gold jewels weighing 2 kg in knee pads in each of their legs.
The total quantity of gold jewels they had wrapped on their legs was 12.2 kg and they were worth Rs. 2.12 crore. Mr. Agarwal gave the names of the men as Abdul Nazeer Jalaluddin Khatib, Mohammed Attif and Mohammed Imran, hailing from Bhatkal, Karnataka.
Mr. Agarwal said that on checking the passenger manifest of an Emirates flight from Dubai, officials noticed that another resident of Bhatkal, Sameer Ahmed, was arriving at the airport. He too had concealed 3.12 kg of gold jewels worth Rs. 56.57 lakh in four separate packets that were strapped on his legs with cellophane tapes. The value of the combined seizure totalled Rs. 2.68 crore, Mr. Agarwal added.
M. Arunkanth, Assistant Commissioner, Customs, said the men were aged between 35 and 40 and were hardcore smugglers. Further, on Saturday evening, they intercepted two men —M.N.Rajendran and Silambu Kumar of Tamil Nadu — who arrived by a flight from Colombo. They had concealed 3,760 memory cards. The value of the cards has been put at Rs. 8.46 lakh.
