Mumbai: The Central Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Customs department has seized around 1.5 kg gold allegedly smuggled in as part of a consignment of electronics sent by air cargo from Dubai to Mumbai.
According to CIU officials, the agency had received a tip-off that some gold had been smuggled in through an import consignment that had landed at the cargo area of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport earlier this month. “The consignment was opened and examined, and we found 21 gold biscuits hidden in the cavity of an inverter’s transformer. The biscuits were concealed between the metallic strips inside the inverter. The gold weighed 1.5 kg, and is worth ₹40 lakh. It was seized on Thursday,” said a CIU officer.
The officer added that the consignment also had other contraband in it. “The Airway Bill of the consignment claimed that it contained hair creams, mouth fresheners and soap, along with the inverter. However, we also found 90 cartons of Gudang Garam cigarettes and 6,000 pouches of RMD brand gutka in the consignment, and these have been seized as well,” the officer said.
Based on the address mentioned on the consignment, which had come from a firm named M/S Tom International, the CIU is carrying out searches at multiple locations in the city and are trying to trace and apprehend the intended recipients of the contraband, officials added.
