In another major gold haul, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Friday seized gold bars weighting 6 kg from two women, one of them an air hostess of Air India, at the Karipur airport on Friday. With this, the total quantity of gold seized at this airport in recent months has touched 37 kg.
The DRI officials from Kozhikode trapped the women at the airport following a tip-off. V.S. Hiramasa, 24, from Pulpalli, Wayanad, and Rahila Cherai, 32, from Thalassery landed at the Karipur Airport at 6 a.m. on Friday on an Air India Express flight from Dubai, wearing jeans, with the gold bars tied to their loins. The DRI officials found the gold bars, estimated to be worth Rs. 1.84 crore, after several rounds of questioning. The DRI is investigating the wider links of the gold carriers.
The officials said the women were working as agents of a gold smuggling racket. It needed to be investigated whether the women had any links with Faiz, the main accused in a gold smuggling racket through Nedumbassery Airport. The CBI has accused Mr. Faiz, nabbed by Customs authorities on September 19, of having smuggled around 60 kg through carriers. The DRI arrested an employee of Air Arabia from Karipur on May 29 for helping a man to smuggle gold.
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