53-yr-old held at IGI airport for trying to smuggle gold

NEWDELHI: The Customs on Monday arrested a 53-year-old labourer working at a garments factory in Punjab from the Indira Gandhi International Airport after he was caught pretending to be a wheelchairbound specially abled passenger to allegedly smuggle gold worth ₹35 lakh.

The gold was concealed in a cloth belt, which the passenger was wearing around his waist, officials said.

According to a Customs officer, the man, who was in his early 50s, landed at the Delhi airport from Dubai and was intercepted after he crossed the green channel on the basis of a tip-off.

“He was asked to co-operate for personal frisking and baggage search. During the search, we found the man was wearing a belt on his waist inside his clothes. Inside the belt, there were three pieces of gold weighing 1.2 kgs. Total value of the recovered gold is ₹35.22 lakh. The passenger was arrested and the gold was seized,” said Anubha Sinha, joint commissioner, Customs, Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Sinha said that the man, during questioning, revealed he is not specially abled and that he pretended to be disabled in a bid to sneak out of the Delhi airport without being caught.

“He said this was his first attempt and that he was a carrier. He said someone would have contacted him once he was in Delhi. To unearth the smuggling chain further, our investigation is in process,” Sinha said.