According to the sources, In one of the largest gold smuggling haul of the year so far, the air intelligence unit (AIU) of Goa customs arrested a Kerala native with undeclared gold bars worth Rs 54.28 lakh. The 35-year old male was flying on Air India flight 994 that arrived from Dubai early Sunday morning. The seizures of Gold at Goa airport is not the new story, in fact, it has become the regular affair now. But the most interesting point here is, despite so many seizures, the smugglers do not stop their activities. It may be quite possible that 1 out of the 10 gets caught? and that may be the reason behind getting the gold smuggled in the country. Anyways, this is just a hypothetical analysis as the actual facts and figures will not be known by anyone for that matter.
The sources have said that the gold smuggling has become a regular affair at the Goa airport with customs officials reporting a rising trend of seizures of the yellow metal at Goa International Airport. The tendency to smuggle gold has forced customs authorities in the tourist state to step up their vigil at Goa’s lone airport to outwit gold smugglers. “We have arrested the man for gold smuggling and investigations are still on. The arrest was made based on a tip-off received by the officers and based on regular profiling,” a customs officer said.
According to the sources in Customs office at the airport, A 35-year old male was smuggling gold weighing 2kg in his hand luggage when the sleuths pulled him aside for further screening. “He was traveling alone and said that he had been given the gold by someone else but we are yet to verify his statements. He has asked for a lawyer and our interrogation will continue,” the customs officials said.
Meanwhile, the Air intelligence sleuths of the Goa Commissionerate of Customs and Central Excise also nabbed two passengers on Sunday who was flying aboard Air Arabia flight 492 for smuggling cigarettes worth Rs 4.36 lakh. The two men were flying separately and also hailed from Kerala.
Customs sleuths let off the two Keralites caught for smuggling cigarettes as the value of the seizure was less than Rs 20 lakh. Cases of contraband smuggling were registered and the men released after the cigarettes were confiscated and a penalty imposed. The final destination of the smuggled goods is usually the southern states, customs officials said, pointing out that gold is usually seized was on its way to the Uttara Kannada region and Kerala.
