Joint Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise (Goa) S K Sinha informed that the first seizure was on Monday morning, when Customs officials and airline security staff were carrying out a routine search of Air India flight AI-994, which travelled to Goa from Dubai via Mumbai. While monitoring the passengers, they found one Abdul Ashad Badni moving in a suspicious manner. Upon checking his luggage, they found gold moulded into various items, like a pen, umbrella, purse, strings, suitcase handle and wheels and a Nivea cream cover. The gold weighed around 674 grams and was worth Rs 16 lakh.
Similarly, Customs officials were carrying out a routine check on an Air India flight that arrived at 4 am from Dubai on Tuesday, when they noticed one Mohamed Farhan moving in a suspicious manner. Now wary of passengers from Bhatkal, the officials called Farhan for a luggage check. Like Abdul, Farhan had moulded gold into the wheels, rims and other parts of his suitcase. The gold weighed 640 grams and was worth Rs 16 lakh.
Custom officials registered a case against both men under Section 104 of the Customs Act.
