In a growing trend of gold smuggling through the air route, customs officials at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport seized 15.7 kgs of gold from two women, one of them an air hostess coming from Dubai on Wednesday.
In one case, the customs officials seized 13 gold biscuits, each weighing one kilogram from the handbag of an off duty air hostess, who arrived from Dubai.
BB Prasad, Chief commissioner of Customs, Hyderabad told a press conference that the gold recovered from airhostess was worth Rs 3.76 crore. “Initially the woman denied carrying any items but on checking gold biscuits were recovered”.
In another case 2.7 kilograms of gold worth Rs 78 lakh was recovered from a woman who came from Doha buy Qatar Airlines flight. The Gold in the form of ornaments was concealed by the woman in her dress.
This is latest in a series of such siezures in the recent days. 1.5 kilogram of gold worth Rs 43 lakh was seized from two passengers at the Hyderabad International airport on April 5. The passengers had come by a flight from Dubai. The gold was recovered from car speaker, talcum power tins and cream boxes carried by the passengers.
Two weeks before that the customs authorities had sixed two kilograms of gold worth Rs 50 lakh who came by Qatar Airways flight. “last year 68 cases were registered and 60.26 kgs of gold worth Rs 17.96 crore was seized”, Prasad said. Seven cases of gold smuggling were registered in the first week of April itself.