Gold seized from seat pocket of flight at Hyderabad Airport
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Nov, 2021 12:25 PM
Hyderabad, Nov 30 (IANS) Customs officials at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here seized 472.8 grams gold in paste form from seat pockets of a flight that arrived from Guwahati.
Acting on specific intelligence, Customs sleuths recovered in gold paste form worth Rs. 23.33 lakh.
The Customs department booked a case for smuggling of gold against an unknown passenger arriving by 6E187 from Guwahati on Monday. An official said on Tuesday that efforts were on to track down the passenger.
This comes a day after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested a man and seized gold worth over Rs. 1 crore. The accused was working in a private firm providing catering services to an airline company.
According to DRI, the accused had picked up the gold concealed in an aircraft to hand it over to receivers on November 27. DRI sleuths intercepted the accused near the airport when he was carrying smuggled foreign origin gold.
They seized two gold bars, weighing a kg each, bearing foreign markings and two thin gold sheets weighing 100 grams each. The value of the total seized yellow metal was Rs. 1.09 crore.
The DRI found that as per the instructions from the handlers, the accused was picking up gold concealed in the aircraft at the time of loading or unloading food trays. He was picking up the contraband from flights arriving from Gulf countries.
The investigators were trying to gather more information about the operations of the gang.
The farmers have been on agitation since August 20 by blocking the Delhi-Amritsar national highway near Jalandhar, along with the rail tracks, over their demand for raising the SAP of sugarcane. They have already rejected the hike of Rs 15 per quintal announced by the government last week.
Indian defence forces have employed the best equipment available in the country to locate the wreckage, which includes remotely operated underwater vehicles, handheld navigation system with sonar, side scanner sonar with echo sensor and portable transducer, divers propulsion vehicle, multi-beam sonar and submarine rescue unit of the India Navy, an official statement said.
The convicts are Shaik Showkath, 35, Mohd Khalid, 22, Mohd Afroz, 20, Abdul Salman Khan, 20, Shaik Salman, 22, and Mujahid Khan, 20. They are all residents of New Hafeezpet, Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy district.
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According to police, the robbers, coming out of the Amruth Gold and Silver shop after the crime, saw Chandru approach and opened fire at him, fearing he may try to apprehend them or alert the public. One of the bullets hit Chandru on the head and he died on the spot.
The Vigilance Bureau arrested Saini, who retired in June 2018, for cheating, forgery and other offences under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on Wednesday.