Two arrested for smuggling gold worth Rs 85 lakh

New Delhi [India], October 3 (ANI): Two persons including a human resource manager with a private firm have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth over Rs 85 lakh at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, a customs department official said on Monday.
Nisha Gupta, Joint Commissioner of Customs at IGI Airport in a statement mentioned that on the basis of profiling, the officers of Airport Customs at IGI Airport in New Delhi had booked a case of smuggling of gold on October 1 by one Indian passenger who had arrived at T-3 from Bangkok.
The passenger was intercepted and two gold bars weighing two-kilo grams having tariff value Rs 85,70,640 were recovered.
The passenger tried to smuggle the gold by handing over the same to one person working at the airport. "The arrested Airport staff was employed as a HR manager with a contractor who supplies manpower like porters and cleaning staff to airport organisations," said the senior customs official.
The official said recovered gold has been seized under section 110 of the customs act, 1962. The passenger and the receiver have been placed under arrest in terms of section 104 of the customs act, 1962.
Further investigation is under progress.
Earlier, customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport seized gold paste of around 1 kg worth Rs 41.35 lakh that had been hidden in the lavatory of an aircraft that arrived from Dubai, a senior officer said on Monday.
Praveen Kumar Bali, Joint Commissioner of Customs, said in a statement, "On the basis of profiling, Flight no. Al-930 was rummaged on arrival from Dubai on September 29 at Terminal-3 of IGI Airport in New Delhi. The officers of Customs during rummaging of flight no Al-930 recovered a grey colour pouch from the back panel of the toilet seat of flight no. Al-930."
He said the grey colour pouch contained some substance in paste form and therefore it was taken for extraction, which resulted in the recovery of 937.00 gm gold. It was estimated to be worth Rs 41.35 lakh, the officer said.
The gold recovered along with its packing material has been seized. (ANI)