TEAM HERALD
VASCO: Customs officials at Dabolim airport on Monday arrested a loader and three passengers and seized 19.5 kgs of gold worth Rs 5.5 crore.
According to the custom officials, the incident occurred at about 3.34 am when the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Sub-Inspector Banti, on CCTV surveillance duty, noticed a passenger handing over a packet to one of the airport staff in the arrival ramp/corridor area, which is before arrival immigration point of terminal building, soon after an international flight landed from Doha.
The custom officials said that Banti immediately informed the matter to his senior officers and rushed to the spot and identified the loader as Prakash M Manotgi, ramp supervisor.
The officials further informed that on interrogation by the CISF, Manotgi revealed that a passenger had handed him a packet containing gold worth Rs 5.5 crore in the Indian market.
The officials said the CISF immediately informed the customs officials and on interrogation, the loader, Manotgi, identified the three passengers as Asif Mohamed, Imtiyaz Hussain and Musba Mohamed Saleem, who had arrived from Doha.
All the three passengers were apprehended by the customs officials on confirmation from Manotgi. He was handed over by CISF to the customs officials along with the recovered gold for further legal action.
The three passengers are being questioned as to how such a huge quantity of gold was brought by them without declaring it to the authorities in Doha. The passengers hail from Maharashtra and Karnataka.
According to sources, the main accused, an official of a reputed air travel agency who is also involved in smuggling the gold, is reported to be absconding.
Sources said the customs officials later in the day raided the family business center at Vasco and seized some documents. The customs officials have also raided the house of the absconding accused at Dabolim and recovered some foreign currency notes.
