Gold worth ₹5.8Cr being smuggled in a belt seized at Mumbai Airport

Mumbai: In yet another foiled smuggling attempt, customs officers at the Mumbai Airport seized 12 kg of gold from a group Sudanese passengers. The gold has been valued at ₹5.38 crore.

A total of 12 passengers, it has been reported, were involved in the gold smuggling bid. "A total of six passengers have been detained and six others are being deported,” a customer officer told media.

The gold was hidden in a red-coloured belt, specially designed to execute the crime, worn by one of the passengers. When the customs officials sensed something illegal, other passengers - who were apparently part of the



group- reportedly tried to create a commotion at the airport, hoping that the person wearing the gold-laden belt would escape. However, all of them were overpowered and eventually detained by the authorities.

Earlier in September, the Mumbai Airport Customs Officers seized 1.3 kgs of cocaine valued at ₹13 crore. 87 capsules of cocaine swallowed by the accused Ghana passenger were recovered in the drug bust. Cocaine worth ₹5 crore was also recovered from a woman passenger at Mumbai Airport in August. The woman - identified as Sierra Leonean, had arrived in Mumbai on Friday from Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines flight.