Kochi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths on Friday intercepted two persons including a supervisor of BWFC, the ground handling agency of CIAL, possessing 3.25 kilogram of gold at the Kochi airport. The sleuths have also taken into custody a passenger, Muhammad Ashraf, hailing from Malappuram.
According to sources, the seized gold was worth around Rs 1 crore. The supervisor was reportedly identified as Paul Joseph, hailing from Kariyad near Nedumbassery.
The passenger arrived on a flight from Dubai at 3 am. “On a specific input, the passenger was intercepted along with the BWFC supervisor at the toilet in Terminal 3, while trying to exchange the contraband. Their plan was to evade the attention of the Customs and take out the gold from airport with the help of the BWFC official,” sources said.
The Customs and the DRI had received information regarding the smuggling and were on alert. The DRI team was sent to conduct the raid instead of Customs, anticipating chances of the accused running away from them before exchange.
