Officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 3.986 kilograms of smuggled gold bars and foreign currencies at Tiruchi airport on Thursday. Acting on specific intelligence of gold smuggling through international combo flights which carry domestic and international passengers, DRI officers mounted vigil on passengers travelling by the Air India Express flight flying in the Kuala Lumpur – Chennai – Tiruchi- Singapore sector in the early hours at the airport.
The officers identified a group of passengers who travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Tiruchi via Chennai and intercepted seven of them including a woman passenger. Foreign origin gold bars weighing 3.186 kilograms smuggled by them were seized. Noticing the operation, some of the passengers abandoned 800 grams of gold in the aircraft which was also seized.
The value of the seized gold bars was put at Rs. 1.25 crore. The passengers were arrested and investigation was in progress. Two more passengers who were bound for Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in the same flight were found carrying foreign currencies in excess of permitted quantity.
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They were found carrying foreign currencies worth Rs. 16.28 lakh.