Hyderabad: A man who was smuggling gold after converting it into paste was caught by officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DR) at the Shamshabad airport on Sunday. Officials seized 1,850 grams of paste from the passenger who was not identified.
According to DRI officials, the passenger arrived by Spicejet flight SG 1314 from Madurai. On checking his baggage, officials found him carrying two packages containing paste. On further examination, officials found out that the paste had 1,120 grams of gold valued at Rs 34.57 lakh.
“The passenger was entrusted with the job of retrieving the gold paste during the flight’s domestic run. It was smuggled from Colombo and concealed in the aircraft by his associate on its international run from Colombo to Madurai. This was done to avoid customs checks at the international airport,” a DRI official said.
The passenger admitted that the gold was smuggled into the country.
The DRI called in an appraiser who took several hours to segregate the gold from the paste. The paste has been sent for analysis.
The DRI official said that smugglers had adopted the Colombo-Hyderabad route.
“One passenger from Sri Lanka brought the consignment into the aircraft and concealed under a seat in the Spicejet aircraft bound for Hyderabad from Madurai. The local courier took the seat, collected the gold paste packets,” he said.
Last week, officials had said that the DRI was trying to break the link of smuggling gangs.
The quantity of gold smuggled was higher earlier, but the gants were playing safe and bringing gold in lesser quantities.
The DRI has registered 13 cases related to smuggling of 24 kg of gold worth over Rs 7 crore in 2017-18. The DRI has booked three cases this year.
