Man held at IGI airport for smuggling gold in shoes
Darpan News Desk IANS, 06 Jun, 2023 03:16 PM
New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) A man trying to smuggle over 2 kg gold worth around Rs 1.13 crore was arrested at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here, Customs officials said on Tuesday.
The gold concealed in a pair of shoes that the accused was carrying.
A senior official said that the man was detained at the airport due to his suspicious activities.
"After conducting a detailed examination of the baggage and a personal search of the passenger, we recovered 2,156 gram of gold worth Rs 1,13,10,074. The seized gold has been confiscated under Section 110 of the Customs Act. The passenger has been placed under arrest under section 104 of the Customs Act," the official added.
Further investigation into the matter is currently underway.
As per the latest data, nearly 1.25 crore passengers were carried by the domestic airlines during January, 2023 in the country as against 64 lakh during the same period last year. The passenger load factor or occupancy of the airlines remained on the higher side in the range of 80 to 90 per cent.
The accused were identified as Hardeep Harnal (35), a resident of Mohali, Punjab; Himanshu Verma (27), a resident of Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh; Sharafat Ali (29), a resident of Ambala, Haryana; and Sagar Bagga (30), a resident of Rohini in Delhi.
Mishra, who was arrested by the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on January 7 for allegedly urinating on a 70-year-old woman while in a drunken state on a flight last November, was granted bail on January 31 by national capital's Patiala House Court.
NCB Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh said the woman was identified as Syeeda Abida. She had plans to travel from Delhi to Doha by a Qatar Airline flight but was apprehended at IGI Airport on March 10.
The two sessions of G20 are slated to be held in the state on March 15-17 and March 19-20. The first one is the second G20 Education Working Group Meeting, while the second is a two-day Labour 20 (L20) meeting.
On January 25, the Supreme Court granted interim bail for eight weeks to Ashish Mishra and directed him to leave Uttar Pradesh within one week of his release from jail. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari directed the sessions judge dealing with the trial of the case to keep apprising it about the future developments of the trial.
