Smuggled gold worth 66L seized at Hyd airport

Hyderabad: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials seized 1996 grams of gold bars worth Rs 66 lakh from a passenger at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad late on Saturday.

According to the DRI officials, they intercepted a passenger who had arrived at the airport by flight no 6E-648 from Indore based on specific intelligence.

On examination, it was found that the passenger was carrying foreign-marked gold bars weighing a total of 1996.70 grams, valued at Rs 66.27 lakh concealed in his shoes.

Preliminary investigation suggested that the passenger had retrieved the said gold from inside the flight, where it was earlier left behind by another passenger who was traveling on an international leg from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram.

The gold was left by international passenger and retrieved by another passenger during a domestic run of the same flight.

The passenger was found to be travelling on a fake name, using a fabricated Aadhaar card.

There were no documents about the import of the said gold. The smuggled gold was seized under the provisions of the Customs Act.

Further investigation is in progress.