Gold smuggling busted by Chennai Customs, gold foils worth Rs 78.4 lakh seized

The Chennai Air Customs Gold seized gold foils weighing 1.45 kilograms and worth Rs 78.4 lakh on Saturday. The smuggled gold, which came in unaccompanied baggage from Dubai, was concealed between layers of cardboard boxes that contained toys and bedsheets. The passenger, who hails from Kallakurichi in Tamil Nadu, was arrested.

The arrested passenger was working as an electrician in Dubai and had lost his job because of COVID-19. He had returned to the country recently.

According to Customs, a passenger who had arrived from Dubai earlier, had come to the customs section on Saturday for the clearance of his personal household goods, which had arrived by IndiGo Airlines Flight 6E 9480 as unaccompanied baggage. On opening the carton boxes, they found bedspread and toy boxes, among other items. The bedspread was wrapped around a cardboard sheet, which appeared to be unusually heavy.

On tearing the cardboard sheet, gold foil, wrapped in carbon paper, was found concealed between the two layers of cardboard sheet. Similarly, cardboard sheets were found in all the toy boxes as well. On tearing open the sheets, gold foils wrapped in carbon paper were found concealed inside two cardboard sheets.

In total, three bedspreads and seven toy boxes were recovered from four carton boxes. Ten gold foils weighing 1.45 kg, valued at Rs 78.4 lakh, were recovered and seized under the Customs Act, 1962, the Customs said.

Earlier this February, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a gold smuggling gang, arresting two customs officials among others in Chennai who were involved in the smuggling of gold into the country through airports. About 12.693 kilograms of gold, which were estimated to be worth Rs 5.44 crore, were smuggled into the country.

Meanwhile, with the increase of narcotic drugs being seized by officials, Madras High Court observed that there was "a clear collusion" between the police and drug peddlers across the country and asked the state government to file a report explaining the steps taken to eradicate drug peddling.

(With inputs from IANS)