An Indian national travelling from Mumbai to Bangkok was intercepted & was found smuggling the diamonds concealed in packets of noodles inside his trolley bag.
The customs department seized diamonds concealed in packets of noodles and gold hidden in body parts and baggage of passengers from the Mumbai airport recently. The goods were collectively valued at ₹6.46 crore.
Detailing the incident, an official told PTI that an Indian national travelling from Mumbai to Bangkok was intercepted and was found smuggling the diamonds concealed in packets of noodles inside his trolley bag.
Meanwhile, a foreign national travelling from Colombo to Mumbai was found carrying gold bars and a cut piece, with a net weight of 321 grams, concealed inside her undergarments, he added.
At least 10 Indian nationals – two each travelling from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and one each from Bahrain, Doha, Riyadh, Muscat, Bangkok and Singapore, were also intercepted and found carrying 6.199 kg gold, valued at ₹4.04 crore. Three of them were subsequently arrested.
In a similar incident, a 38-year-old employee of a fast-food restaurant, Pandian, was arrested by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Mumbai customs for allegedly helping in taking out smuggled gold from the Mumbai airport and handing it over to the members of the smuggling racket outside for a commission. He was found hiding 6 oval capsules of gold in his belt valued around ₹1.86 crore, the PTI report added.
“His role was to receive gold at the departure area and hand it over to the members of the racket outside. He was supposed to hand over the consignment at Bandra T junction to Noorul Hasan J and Kalandar Azzarudeen,” said the officials.
Noorul and Kalandar who stayed at Hotel Star in Masjid Bunder told officials that they worked for Anthony from Mohammad Ali Road. They received ₹3 lakh per delivery, out of which ₹1.8 lakh was paid to Pandian for aiding in the smuggling.
