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This is an archive article published on December 21, 2013
Hyderabad: Gold worth Rs 5.4 cr seized at airport
The officials said the bars weighing 18 kg were hidden neatly in their clothes and packed into suitcases.
Gold bars worth Rs 5.4 crore in the Indian market were seized at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad on Friday morning. The recovery,made off three passengers who had flown in from Singapore,is one of the biggest made in the country.
The three transporters,identified as Hazi Mohammad,Ziauddin Ali and Chokkalingam are originally from Chennai but hold Singapore passports. While they did not declare anything at the Customs check-in point,alert officers took them in after noting suspicious behaviour. The officials said the bars weighing 18 kg were hidden neatly in their clothes and packed into suitcases. Foreign currency worth Rs 2.70 lakh was also seized off them.
The three men told officials that they decided to smuggle the gold to sell in Indian markets as it was cheaper to buy in Singapore. They said they were planning to meet some buyers in Chennai and were going to travel there by road from Hyderabad.
With this haul,Customs at Hyderabad airport have seized 34 kg of gold this year,Chief Commissioner of Hyderabad Zone B B Prasad said.
Officials said smugglers from other states were using Hyderabad Airport as they might think Customs officials there may not recognise suspected offenders or may not have them on their watch lists. The Air Intelligence Unit there has,however,stepped up checking and vigilance after making several seizures from passengers returning from the Middle East,Singapore and Thailand.
On December 7,officials arrested a man from Karnataka Syed Maqsood who had flown in from Bangkok with 350 grams of gold. On December 13,they seized 1 kg of gold dust which was concealed in a passengers garments.
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