Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 19 Jun, 2023 05:20 PM
New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) Three persons have been arrested here at the IGI Airport for attempting to smuggle 1,122 gm of gold valued at over Rs 57 lakh, an official said on Monday.
A Customs official said that the arrest was made based on profiling when an air passenger arrived at IGI, and was about to board a flight to Bangkok.
"During the investigation, it was revealed that the passenger admitted to smuggling the gold in paste form by handing it over to an airline staff member who then clandestinely took it outside the Delhi airport without declaring it to the proper customs officer or paying the customs duty on the gold," an official said.
The Customs officials seized a total of 1,122 gm of gold valued at Rs 57,65,879 under Section 110 of the Customs Act.
"Both the passenger and the referred person have committed offences punishable under Sections 132 and 135 of the Customs Act. They have been placed under arrest in accordance with Section 104 of the Customs Act," added the official.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
The highest quantity has been procured from Punjab (1,86,85,53 MT) followed by Chhattisgarh (67,65,986 MT) and Telangana (65,54,739 MT) while the highest number of farmers benefitted in are Chhattisgarh (16,90,459), Telangana (9,67,134) and Punjab (9,24,299).
Hockey is one of the most popular sports in Punjab and many players from the state have been integral parts of the national team. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, while the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
