VASCO: Cracking the whip on gold smuggling, the Air Intelligence Unit of Goa Customs seized 10 kg of unclaimed and abandoned gold worth Rs 2 cr from a Qatar airlines aircraft QR 522 that landed in Goa on Tuesday. Customs sleuths, while rummaging the Qatar Airlines aircraft that had arrived from Doha, found three plastic carry bags left abandoned under passenger seat no 33C.
“Inquiry was made with the aircraft crew members as well as with operating staff of Qatar Airways, however, none of them claimed to have any information about the abandoned plastic bags nor any clue about the about the owner of the bags. We took custody of the bags and when we opened them in the presence of airlines security staff and supervisory officers of Qatar Airlines we found jewellery in assorted forms. The total weight of the gold was about 10 kg (18 carat gold) worth Rs 2 crore,” Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Goa Commissioner K Anpazhakan said.
Customs officials carried out a search to indentify the owner of the bag, however, no passenger came forward. Specific enquires were also made with the passenger occupying seat 33C and its neighbouring seats but these too disowned the jewellery. “The recovered jewellery has been seized on the reasonable belief that the same was meant to be smuggled and liable for confiscation,” Anpazhakan told media persons.
This is another in a series of gold seizures at Dabolim airport. Last Friday, Custom sleuths had seized 1 kg gold from an international passenger.
