Moradabad man nabbed for smuggling gold worth Rs 2.09 crore

LUCKNOW: Ahead of dhanteras and diwali, in a major crackdown against gold smugglers, the customs department of Chaudhary Charan Singh international airport caught a passenger with undeclared gold worth Rs 2.09 crore.
Hailing from Moradabad, the passenger had landed with GoAir flight (G8 6451) at Amausi-based airport from Riyadh on Wednesday late night along with 33 gold biscuits.
Niharika Lakha, the deputy commissioner of customs, Lucknow said, "During luggage scanning, our system spotted suspicious objects in the baggage of the passenger. After a thorough inspection, our team recovered 3849.12 grams of gold which the passenger had not declared and was allegedly smuggling into the country. The gold biscuits were hidden in undergarments after been taped into a black pouch. Team is still questioning the passenger on whether he was acting as a courier man to smuggle the gold for someone else or for himself to gain profit from resell at price."
"The passenger had returned to the country after spending five years in Riyadh," added Lakha. According to customs, the seized gold worth is Rs 2,09,77,704.
Earlier, the customs department of CCSI had nabbed a passenger on September 15 with 583.200 grams of gold biscuits worth value Rs 31.78 lakh after he landed from Dubai.
Similarly, a resident of Sultanpur district was caught with 228.700 grams of gold worth Rs 12.35 lakh after he landed from Sharjah-Lucknow on September 7. On September 5, group of men were caught with 287.22 gram of gold worth Rs 15,28,011.
The biggest smuggling consignment of gold was caught prior to lockdown in February month by customs, when a Lucknow based tailor attempted to pass airport security system with 50 gold biscuits worth Rs 2.46 crore.