gold smuggling through air routes in mumbai by seizures

A series of detections by the DRI unearthed the novel modus operandi of smuggling foreign origin gold into India 

May 07 2022 08:58 am /IST posted BY : Newsflixall

Last week, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) foiled two attempts of gold smuggling through air routes by securing two successive seizures in Mumbai and Lucknow, which had the same method of concealing gold.

On May 6, the DRI received precise intelligence, after which officials inspected a consignment that had arrived from Dubai at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

According to the import documents, the item was declared as "sectional and drum type drain cleaning machines", but on careful examination, 5.8 kg gold valued at Rs. 3.1 crore shaped as discs was found concealed in side two motor rotors of the machine imported in the said consignment.

The importer was arrested from south Mumbai and has been sent to judicial custody by the court.

In a similar case, on May 5, DRI officials in Lucknow intercepted an import cargo said to contain an “electrical threading machine” at the Air Cargo Complex of Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, and gold discs were found concealed in the machines in a very similar fashion. Total 5.2 kg gold, valued at Rs.2.78 crore, was seized in that case.

Over the last year, the DRI has affected significant seizures of gold from cargo and courier consignments.

In August 2021, the agency - had detected the use of a similar mode of concealment of smuggled gold in a consignment which had arrived at the International Courier Terminal, Mumbai, in which the DRI had recovered 5.25 kg of concealed gold, valued at Rs 2.67 crore.

Several such detections of the DRI have unearthed the novel modus operandi of smuggling foreign origin gold into India through the air cargo and courier route.