Two held at Mumbai Airport with gold concealed in undergarments
Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Jan, 2023 11:04 AM
Mumbai, Jan 17 (IANS) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday said that they arrested two persons at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here and seized 8.230 kgs of gold in paste form valued at Rs 4.54 crore.
The DRI said that they got specific intelligence input that gold in paste form is being smuggled into India by a syndicate of passengers who are traveling from Dubai to Mumbai on January 17.
"Surveillance was mounted by DRI officers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. The suspected passengers were identified and intercepted by the team at the airport. A thorough examination of the passengers led to recovery of 8.230 kgs of gold in paste form. The value of the gold is about Rs 4.54 crore," an official said.
The DRI said that most of the recovered gold was concealed in undergarments of the passengers making it extremely difficult to detect. This is a unique modus operandi busted by the DRI, indicating the uphill task faced by its officers on a regular basis to check the syndicates smuggling gold in various forms into the country.
"Two persons have been arrested in the above case. Further investigation in the instant case is under progress to unravel the complete chain of persons involved in the illegal inflow of gold into the country," the official added.
Police said that with the arrest of the duo, identified as Samual Uzochukwu Nnowaruom and Joseph Ebekue, both from Nigeria, the entire backbone of the drug peddling syndicate has been broken in Dwarka area.
The toll was confirmed to the media by Rajkot Range Inspector General of Police Ashok Yadav. However, the toll according to the Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi is 132, while two persons remain unaccounted for.
Addressing to a gathering here, Mann said it is crystal clear that the people of Gujarat have made up their mind to give mandate in favour of AAP by ousting the BJP from the power. He said the Opposition is trying to malign AAP by dubbing it 'B' team of others but AAP is party of Gujarat's people and 130 crore of Indians.
Mining trader Mehal Singh (70) was shot dead outside his house on October 13. The operation was jointly carried out by the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), Counter Intelligence (CI) Punjab, the District Police of Udham Singh Nagar Uttarakhand, the Special Cell Delhi and the District Police of Mohali.
The deceased identified as Sunita Mittal was travelling by an e-rickshaw. Her grandson and daughter-in-law were also with her. She was on her way to Rohini sector 9. In the Prashant Vihar area two persons who were riding on a scooty attacked her in a bid to snatch her bag. The woman raised an alarm.
During the physical search, both the women were detected with something wrapped below their knees in a bandage-like arrangement, arousing suspicions. On further examination, it was found that the duo had wrapped 24 carat pure gold in wax form around their legs, concealed with an adhesive bandage-like material underneath their jeans.