Mumbai airport staffer, passenger held for smuggling gold worth Rs 92.13 lakh

Gold dust recovered from an airport staffer.

On the intervening night of October 15-16, the Mumbai Airport Commissionerate (Zone-III) arrested two people for the alleged illegal possession of gold.

The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers, acting on specific intelligence, trailed a transit passenger who arrived from Dubai and was to depart to Bangkok. The passenger, along with an airport staff member, was seen entering a washroom, raising suspicions.

Upon intercepting the staff member, AIU officers discovered 1.27-kg 24-karat gold dust in wax form, valuing at Rs 92,13,437, which were concealed in his undergarments. Following his Interrogation, AIU officers learnt that the gold had been handed over to him by another passenger. Based on this information, AIU officers launched an exhaustive search and managed to successfully apprehend the second passenger within the airport premises.

Preliminary investigations indicated a connection between the airport staff member and the second passenger, suggesting a coordinated effort to smuggle the gold.

The duo also confessed in their statement that they had smuggled gold twice before this. Both the individuals were subsequently arrested under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

In another case, 455 grams of gold dust in wax form, valuing at Rs 33,00,880, and high-value phones, provisionally valued at Rs 6,11,790, were recovered from a passenger from Dubai. The said gold dust was concealed inside the body cavity of the passenger while the phones were kept hidden inside the baggage.