1.4 Kg gold seized at Mumbai airport; customs nabs airport staff, foreign national

Immigration staffer and flyer from neighbouring country caught by AIU with gold worth crores at the Mumbai airport

In a major crackdown, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has arrested an immigration staffer and a Bangladeshi national for their alleged involvement in a gold smuggling racket.

According to sources, the accused, identified as Anil Rai, was caught red-handed with 1.4 kg of gold worth several crores. Rai, a Class IV contractual employee with the immigration department for several years, reportedly received the gold from a transit passenger inside a restroom on Wednesday morning.

“Rai’s role was to collect the smuggled gold and hand it over to a receiver waiting outside the airport. However, before he could exit, customs officials detained him and recovered the gold during a thorough search,” said a source. During interrogation, Rai confessed that the gold was handed to him by Mohammed Imran Hossain, a Bangladeshi passport holder who had arrived from Dubai and was en route to Bangladesh. The handover reportedly took place near the toilet at the international transit transfer counter.

The gold, concealed in pouches, weighed 1.4 kg and was seized.

Customs officials further revealed that Rai had previously helped bypass security checks and facilitated smuggling attempts for the syndicate.

In a joint interrogation, Hossain named a handler who is currently on the run. A manhunt has been launched to trace him and uncover other links in the smuggling network. Authorities are also probing the involvement of other immigration officials.

Both accused were produced before the Esplanade (Killa) Court on Thursday. Further investigations are underway.

1.4 KG
Quantity of gold seized from the two accused

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