Smugglers sending consignments by road: DRI officials

The accused arrived by Air India Express flight had smuggled the gold in paste form

Swapna Suresh approached the court against the NIA court order denying bail

The Union government on Thursday handed over the gold smuggling case to the National Investigation Agency.

The commissioner said that both cases were registered and investigated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

Their search revealed seven long strips of gold tightly wrapped within a black adhesive tape and concealed inside hollow pipes under the seats.

The arrest follows the seizure of 11 kg of gold from three carriers at Kannur International Airport on August 19.

On intense questioning, all three admitted to having concealed gold in the form of rubbery material in their rectum.

Airport sources said Husain was detained and questioned as he moved about in a suspicious manner.

The Chinese national has been taken into custody and the police already have started the investigation into the matter.

The court was considering bail petitions of gold smuggling accused Prakash Thampy and Vishnu who were allegedly his associates.

Vishnu was a close friend and financial manager of deceased violinist Balabh-askar.

Any further advance in airport gold smuggling case hinges on arrest of man on run.

The accused cricketer is a Canadian national and has represented Canada in the ICC under-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh.

By an estimate of precious metals agency GFMS, 154 tonnes of gold entered the country through unofficial channels in 2018, up from 134 tonnes in 2017.

DRI to expand gold smuggling probe.

The country’s gold imports in value terms rose to $4.78 billion last month from $3.48 billion in the same month last year, Reuters reported.

This was after the High Court issued a directive asking him to surrender by 10 am on Friday.

It was exposed when 25 kg of gold was seized from the bags of Sunil and Serina Shaji when they came out of the airport after checking on May 13.

On Tuesday morning, the officials intercepted Basha Mohiddin( 35) of Kadapa, who arrived from Abu Dhabi by Etihad flight.