18 Sudanese women and an Indian woman were arrested at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Tuesday with smuggled gold. Representational Image.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a gold smuggling racket and arrested 18 Sudanese women and an Indian woman with 16.36 kg of gold made into paste valued at Rs 10.16 crore at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Tuesday, an official said.
In another related search operation, 1.42 kg of gold valued approximately at Rs 85 lakh along with foreign currency worth Rs 16 lakh and Indian currency worth Rs 88 lakh were also recovered, he said.
Acting on specific intelligence that gold in paste form was going to be smuggled into India by a syndicate of passengers travelling from the UAE to Mumbai on Monday, DRI officials mounted a surveillance at the Mumbai airport, the official said.
Passengers suspected to be part of the syndicate travelling in three flights were identified and intercepted by a team of the DRI at the airport. During the search operation, the DRI recovered 16.36 kg of gold in paste form, gold cut pieces and jewellery, collectively valued at Rs 10.16 crore, said the official.
Eighteen women from Sudan carrying the smuggled gold and an Indian woman who was coordinating the movement of the passengers were arrested, he said.
Most of the recovered gold was found concealed on the body of the suspected passengers, making it extremely difficult to detect the precious metal, said the official, adding further investigation was underway.
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