Mumbai businessman smuggles Rs 31 lakh gold in wig; arrested

A picture of the wig used to smuggle gold. Pic/ Chaitraly Deshmukh

A Mumbai-based businessman had a bad hair day or rather, a bad wig day on Monday, when Customs officers detained him at Pune airport in order for smuggling gold worth Rs 31.13 lakh in it. The man was identified as Shahzad Baba Miya Momin, 34, from Null Bazaar.

Senior Inspector, Customs, Amzad Shaikh said, "Momin runs a fruit business in thie city of Mumbai and five days ago he had visited Dubai. On Monday at around 10 am, he returned to India travelling by an Air India flight number IX-212 at the Pune airport. We found his movements suspicious and then rank a check on his profile and then his belongings."

Also Read: Man held by customs for smuggling gold bars, 'mangalsutra' from Dubai

He added, "We noticed he was wearing a wig and asked him to remove it. Initially, he refused to do so but we forcibly took it off and found a black coloured belt with a polythene bag in it. Upon opening it we found gold that weighed around 957.10 gm. It is estimated to be priced at Rs 31.13 lakh. Momin could not give us a believable reason for him smuggling the gold and we registered a case against him."

Also Read: CBI books GST, Customs officials for facilitating gold smuggling in paste form

Momin was presented in court on Tuesday and remanded in judicial custody till May 21.

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