DRI seizes 3.35 kg of gold in paste form at Mumbai airport
Pune, 7th May 2023: Based on specific intelligence that a syndicate, working in coordination with the international transit passengers and airport staff, is involved in the smuggling of gold into India, surveillance was mounted by a team of DRI officers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai.
The suspected transit passenger, Duty-Free Shop staff and Food court staff were identified and intercepted by the team of DRI officers at the airport. A thorough examination led to the recovery of a total of 3.35 kg of gold in paste form. The value of the gold is about ₹ 2.1 crores. The passengers smuggling the gold used to travel from Bangkok to Dubai and vice versa with transit in India and,in the transit,used to hand over gold to the staff working at the airport who were part of this syndicate.
These airport staff used to carry this smuggled gold outside the airport and hand it over to the next person at various places like the petrol pump near the airport metro.
Acting further, the person responsible for recruiting persons at the airport fir the clearance of gold from the airport,was apprehended from the airport while he was travelling from Delhi to Mumbai. Further leads were developed from the persons apprehended and other members of the syndicate were apprehended who were managing the arrangement of the transit carriers, collecting the gold and financing the whole smuggling.
This is a unique modus operandi busted by the DRI indicating the uphill task faced by the officers of DRI on a regular basis to check the syndicates smuggling gold in various forms into the country. This syndicate was involved in smuggling of substantial quantities of gold on a daily basis using this novel modus operandi.
11 persons have been arrested in the above case so far.Further investigation in the instant case is under progress to unearth and neutralise the syndicates involved in the illegal inflow of gold into the country.
