Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 6.8 kg of gold worth ₹3.6 crore from six passengers at Coimbatore International Airport recently.
According to G. Sathish, Deputy Director of DRI, based on specific intelligence that gold was smuggled from west Asian countries, officers of DRI, Coimbatore, intercepted six passengers - Basha, Naazar, Sajif, Sahul Hameed, Yuvaraj and Dharmaraj. They arrived here from Sharjah by Air Arabia flight on October 24. The officers examined their belongings and found that each of them were carrying gold mixed in paste form and had concealed the same in their clothes and inner garments.
When questioned, the six said that they were carrying the gold for a commission. The seized gold in paste form was processed and extracted. A total of 6.88 kg of 24 carat gold was recovered.
It had been told that gold smuggling was slowly picking and the same was being carried out by various carriers and smugglers through the Vande Bharat Mission flights also, he said.
