TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Air Intelligence Unit of Goa Customs arrested a Mumbai passenger with gold bars approximately worth Rs 17.33 lakh. This is the first such seizure from the new terminal since it began its operations in December 2013.
The passenger, originally from Chennai was found with six gold bars of 100 grams each hidden in his rectum, during a personal check at the new Dabolim airport terminus. The Commissionerate of Central Excise and Customs has concealed his identity for investigative purposes.
According to airport sources, the carrier had arrived via Mumbai by AI 984 flight. The accused was intercepted after his movements were found to be suspicious.
“He called himself a businessman dealing with supari (areca nuts) which he supplies to big hotels on contract… On being asked about the name and address of hotels from where he had taken the contract, the passenger could not reply. This raised suspicion among custom officials and he was subsequently subjected to a personal search,” a customs officer said.
The search resulted in the seizure, which is valued at Rs 17,30,400 in the domestic market and Rs 15,40,800 in the international market. It is learnt that an international passenger had hired him to transport the yellow metal to India for which he was paid a fee. In all these cases like earlier, different modus operandi have been adopted.
