20 kg of gold bars seized at Kochi airport, 3 held

20 kg of gold bars seized at Kochi airport, 3 held

Mangalore Today News Network

Kochi, Sep 20, 2013: The two women, who were arrested by the Customs department at Cochin International Airport, in the wee hours of Thursday, for possessing 20 kilograms gold, were key members of the Gulf-based gold smuggling racket and had successfully smuggled gold worth Rs 2.32 crore in two previous attempts, according to the Customs officials.

The women, who were busted along with one’s husband, had smuggled eight kilograms of gold within the last three months, according to sources.

“One among the women is pregnant and the other carried her three-year old child with them, which made it easy for the smugglers to easily evade the Customs check and exit from airports without being caught. The women confessed that they travel to Dubai from Kochi and smuggle gold bars back after a week or so,” a Customs source said.

However, the gang was busted this time when they arrived at Cochin Airport by Emirates flight EK 532 from Dubai after  a tip-off about their possession of gold.

The gold bars were found concealed in specially stitched jackets with pouches. The women also had worn burka in order to avoid being detected. The gang was looking to evade Rs 60 lakh Customs duty by smuggling the gold bars.

“Both the women are very young– aged 25 years and were recently roped into the racket. It was easy for them to smuggle gold as the sleuths usually let pregnant women and women with small kids without much checking,” the Customs source said.

Thursday’s seizure was conducted by a team of officers of the Customs Preventive Commissioner ate based on a tip-off. The team, led by the Additional Commissioner Sophia Joy, also included the Deputy Commissioners S.A.S. Navaz and S. Nasser Khan, Assistant Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, Superintendents Mithra Prasad, Padmarajan, R. Jayachandran, Oommen Joseph, Koshy Abraham, Sunny K. Joseph, Mohd. Faiez,  P.K. Thulasidasan, Sreedharan, Jossy, Gireesh and Officers Chackochan K., C.D. Aravindakshan Nair and Rupam Kumari.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle