A woman attempting to smuggle gold in the form of a ‘paste’ from Dubai was detained at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The woman identified as Amtul Hashil Mohammad was found carrying Rs 74 lakh worth of gold weighing 1.6 kilograms concealed in various regions of her body.
The Air Intelligence Unit, under the Office of the Commissioner of Customs, detained Amtul Hashil acting on specific information, reported The Hindu. The passenger had arrived in a Fly Dubai airline flight which landed at 2.50 pm, and was taken into custody by 3.30 pm.
Officials have filed a case against the woman under relevant sections of the Customs Act and have initiated a probe.
In a separate incident on the same day, officials with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) detained a man found carrying 40,000 cigarette sticks. The passenger identified as 41-year-old Abdul Azeez Kutikol Veedu had arrived from Abu Dhabi in an Etihad flight at 12.51 am at the Hyderabad Airport. Officials reportedly found the behaviour of Azeez suspicious. Upon inspection, officials found him trying to smuggle foreign cigarettes. He was found carrying 150 packets of Benson & Hedges, and 50 packets of Special Gold Superfine. Azeez was then handed over to the Customs Department officials for further interrogation.
Earlier in February, Customs officials nabbed two persons for attempting to smuggle in 1.4 kilograms of gold. The passengers arrived from Dubai and were found carrying gold paste in the waistband of their jeans. The gold biscuits were concealed in a torchlight.
On February 23, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) caught a man from Karnataka attempting to smuggle 1.56 kilograms of gold worth Rs 90.4 lakh. He had arrived in Hyderabad from Pune at the domestic terminal and had concealed the gold bars in his undergarments.