15 October,2015 11:44 AM IST | | Neha LM Tripathi
Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) wing of Mumbai Customs, on Tuesday, in three different cases seized gold worth Rs.1.33 crore
In a rare case of gold being taken out of the airport coming back, Pavan Shekhar Raikar, the son of a jeweller from Goa, was caught after the Customs officer laid a trap. This could be done as Customs officers managed to catch hold of Mandar Sajjan Alve who, during investigations, revealed that Raikar was carrying more gold and had already left the airport premises. Raikar was caught from outside the Maxus Mall in Bhayander by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) wing of Mumbai Customs.
The AIU, on Tuesday, in three different cases including Raikar's, seized gold worth Rs.1.33 crore
On the night duty of October 12, Alve was caught while illegally clearing out from the International terminal. One gold bar weighing 762 gram that was valued at Rs.18,54,952 was recovered him.
Investigations revealed that Alve was an employee of Raikar who was carrying more gold than him and had already successfully left airport premises. Both Alve and Raikar had travelled from Bangkok by Thai Airways TG 317 (that landed at around 9.40pm).
Pavan Shekhar Raikar
"It was when we realised that the passenger was already out of the airport that we decided to lay a trap. We asked Alve to convince him that we had decided to forgive them and would let them go after we see him," said a Mumbai Customs Officer.
Alve was asked to convince Raikar to continue waiting for the AIU officers. A team of six AIU officers at around 4 am spotted and apprehended Raikar from outside Maxus mall in Bhayandar. Seizure of 3 gold bars weighing 762 grams each and totally weighing 2286 grams and totally valued at Rs.55,64,855 was recovered from Raikar.
On the same night, in the wee hours of Tuesday, two female passengers were also caught smuggling. In the first case, the AIU officers intercepted Arifa Mohammed Kalim Qureshi, who arrived from Dubai, holding an Indian passport, in flight no 9W 543 (that lands Mumbai at around 2.15am) and made a recovery of 7 gold bars of 10 tola each and assorted jewellery totally weighing 1388 gram and totally valued at Rs.33,78,837. The gold was recovered from waist belt, which was tied by the passenger around her waist under her garments.
In the second female passenger case, Dahaba Abdi Mohamed was caught with ten gold bars in a bag that belonged to her. Mohamed, who was holding a Kenyan passport, was also caught, and 10 gold bars of 10 tola each were recovered from her. These gold bars totally weighed 1166 grams that valued at Rs.28,38,417. Abdi had concealed the bars in the rod of the trolley bag that she was carrying. The passenger was arrested.
APS Suri, Commissioner, Mumbai Customs said, "After a downfall, gold smuggling has again seen a rise. But, thanks to team efforts of the officers we managed to foil some attempts."
