Four foreigners and one Indian passenger were arrested on arrival at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, in two separate incidents by the Customs as they were caught with smuggled gold jewellery weighing around 4.4 kg while and 7.4 kg gold respectively. Four passengers were later identified as nationals of Turkmenistan, a customs official said.
Four Turkmenistani passengers, including three women, were intercepted after their arrival at Delhi in different flights on Wednesday. Two of them had come from Dubai and the rest from Turkmenistan, a statement issued by the customs on Sunday said.
A detailed personal and baggage search of these four passengers resulted in recovery of gold items like chains, rings, bracelets and pendants among others weighing about 4.4 kg, it said.
These Turkmenistani nationals were arrested and the gold was seized.
In another case, an Indian was intercepted after his arrival from Hong Kong on Tuesday. His baggage and personal search resulted in recovery of three gold bars, collectively weighing three kilograms. The gold bars were seized and the passenger was arrested. The customs officials have seized 7.4 kg of gold worth Rs two crore in these cases, a customs official said.