Customs seize gold, diamonds worth ?6.46 cr, arrests four passengers

MUMBAI: The Customs Department seized diamonds and gold, collectively worth ?6.46 crore, across 13 cases at the Mumbai airport from Friday to Sunday last week and arrested four accused passengers. The diamonds were allegedly found hidden inside noodle packets in transparent zip-lock airtight pouches and kept inside a check-in bag, while the gold was concealed in body parts of certain passengers and baggage, sources said.

An Indian national who was travelling from Mumbai to Bangkok was intercepted and allegedly found involved in the bid to smuggle diamonds worth ?2.02 crore via concealment. The diamonds, including “natural loose diamonds” and “lab-grown diamonds”, were found concealed in packets of noodles inside his trolley bag. The passenger was arrested and remanded to custody by a city court, the sources said.

On the other hand, gold dust in wax was allegedly found inside body parts of certain passengers and gold bars recovered from certain passengers’ trousers’ pockets, baggage as well as inside undergarments, the sources said. In all, 6.81 kg of gold were seized, the sources said. Sources said that a foreign national, who travelled to Mumbai from Colombo, was intercepted on suspicion and examined, which yielded 24-carat gold bars and a cut piece, with their net weight at 321 grams, allegedly concealed inside her undergarments.

On the other hand, 10 Indian nationals, who arrived from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Doha (Qatar), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Muscat (Oman), Bangkok (Thailand), and Singapore - were intercepted and found carrying 6.19 kg gold, valued at ?4.04 crore, which was allegedly concealed in body parts and inside baggage. Gold dust was also found hidden inside the waistline of the jeans worn by a passenger and in another case, a gold plate was found camouflaged as a credit card inside the wallet of a passenger, sources said. Three of the passengers were arrested.