Gold hidden under flight seat, one arrested

 A passenger who arrived from Dubai in an Air India flight was arrested at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) on Friday by customs sleuths, who recovered 1.2-kg gold hidden under his seat. The accused, who hails from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, is a carrier of a smugglers’ gang.

While checking the passengers of Dubai-Hyderabad-Vizag flight (AI-952), air intellignce unit (AIU) sleuths became suspicious of the passenger’s movements and questioned him. While scanning his baggage and frisking did not yield much, the sleuths grilled him on his frequent travels to Dubai and Gulf countries from various airports in India.

After sustained interrogation, the accused confessed that he concealed 1.2 kilo gold



under his seat in the flight. The sleuths recovered the gold. 

“The accused is a carrier and gold was handed over to him by an unidentified man at the Dubai airport, who works for the smugglers’ gang. The job of the accused is to conceal the gold under his seat, for which he gets Rs.50,000. Another person who works for the gang picks up the gold when the aircraft flies as a domestic carrier to Delhi,” said an AIU official.

A customs official said the accused boards flights from various airports to mislead the cops. “He did the same while returning. When questioned about his travel patterns and the purpose of travel, he could not give us satisfactory answers,” he added.