Sleuths from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized gold, mobile phones, drones and foreign cigarettes worth ₹4.82 crore from 15 passengers who arrived in Coimbatore from Sharjah by Air Arabia flight on November 14 morning.
Based on intelligence inputs, the officials led by Deputy Director of DRI G. Satish identified 15 passengers hailing from Chennai, Tiruchirapalli and Kasargod district in Kerala. During personal search, they were found to have six kg gold in paste form concealed in their inner garments and a 24 carat crude gold chain weighing 1 kg. They were also carrying foreign cigarettes valued at ₹ 1.03 crore and latest mobile phones and drones valued at ₹ 53 lakh. The officials recovered 5,200g of gold and the gold chain weighing 1010g worth ₹ 3.26 crore from them.
Of the 15 passengers, 11 were arrested under the Customs Act 1962 for carrying smuggled goods worth more than ₹ 20 lakh. They were later enlarged on bail, DRI officials said in a release.
