Sleuths of the Air Intelligence Unit of Customs at Kempegowda International Airport busted a gold smuggling racket on Tuesday and arrested four persons, including two Jordanian passengers. Over 7.5 kg of gold worth over ₹2.3 crore was seized from the duo.
Additional Commissioner of Customs Harshavardhan Umre said one of the men, Abdel Rahman J.A. Rizik Al Dardasawi (38), had arrived from Dubai. Examination of his baggage revealed three packets wrapped with brown tape hidden in specially made secret pockets. They contained three gold bars weighing a kilo each and a 250 gram gold biscuit. Dardasawi is a graduate in finance and is a trader of clothes, shoes and electronics in Jordan.
The team then zeroed in on another passenger, Saleh Talal Yousef Herzallah (38), with a travel itinerary similar to that of Dardasawi. A body search revealed 3.25 grams of gold in secret pockets in his trousers.
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Officials believe that they were not known to each other, but had been engaged by a mutual friend in Jordan to meet a person who would hand over a consignment of gold to them to be delivered in India. They were offered free flight tickets to and from Amman to Bengaluru via Dubai for carrying out the task. They were also provided trousers with specially designed secret pockets.
The two had agreed to the proposal since the travel was free; it provided them an opportunity to explore new markets for their businesses back in Jordan.
Earlier, sleuths had detained Muniasamy Ponnaiah, a construction worker in Malaysia, who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur. He was carrying 150.65 grams of gold worth ₹4.45 lakh.
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In another case, one kilo of gold was found in the tubing under the seat occupied by K. Naushad (37), a native of Kozhikode in Kerala, who worked as a salesman in the UAE. The flight had arrived from Dubai.