VASCO: In a yet another seizure within a week’s time, the air intelligence unit of Goa Customs seized 798 grams of gold worth Rs 18.17 lakh from two passengers on their arrival at Goa international airport on Tuesday.
This is the second seizure in the last one week. On August 3, the Goa Customs had seized unclaimed gold weighing 1 kg amounting to Rs 23 lakh which was hidden inside the flight toilet.
The Joint Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Goa, S K Sinha, informed that two passengers — one international and the other a domestic — were caught when the duo was trying to smuggle out gold from the airport in a well-planned modus operandi.
“The Air India Flight AI-984 from Dubai via Mumbai landed at the Goa Airport on Tuesday early morning and while the Customs staff were keeping a vigil on passengers. One of the officials found a domestic passenger Abdul Munaf (28), native of Kerala, moving out from the green channel at the airport in suspicious manner and thus he was stopped and upon physical frisking two crude chains were found was hidden in the side pocket of the trouser worn by him.
“As the passenger had boarded the flight at Mumbai Airport, our staff started interrogating the passenger who later disclosed that the gold chains were handed over to him by one Thachotta Kunnummel Moossa (38), native of Kerala who had boarded the flight in Dubai and handed over the gold to him with the belief that domestic passengers are not checked on their arrival at Goa Airport,” Sinha told Herald.
