Three held for smuggling gold worth₹76L at Delhi Airport
NEW DELHI: Three persons, two of them contractual employees of the Airport Health Organisation (APHO), were apprehended at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for trying to smuggle in gold, estimated to worth around ₹76 lakh, customs officers said on Friday.
Customs commissioner Zubair Riaz Kamili, confirmed the arrests and the Delhi customs said on Thursday, two APHO employees were caught helping an Indian passenger from Saudi Arabia smuggle the gold into the country. The two APHO employees have been posted at the airport for the last two years for screening passengers for Covid-19 and handling those who test positive. The gold bars were allegedly handed over to the employees in a washroom near gate number 18 and custom officers said the APHO employees were aware that the washroom did not have any CCTV cameras in its vicinity and hence chose the place for the handover.
A senior customs officer, who asked not to be named, said, “The APHO employees were misusing the pass they had for moving within the airport. A passenger (Indian national) had landed from Riyadh and handed over 14 gold bars, weighing a total of 1,632 grams, to one of the detained APHO employees. The employee said he had been instructed by his colleague to receive the consignment. For this, they were paid a commission.”
In another operation, a South African national who had landed in Delhi was caught with 10kg heroin on Friday. The customs said the passenger had stitched a false cover in the bottom of his luggage and hid the contraband inside it. “On the basis of profiling, the passenger was followed and stopped for checking. He had come to Delhi on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. While checking his baggage, we found the false bottom; the drug was wrapped in black adhesive tape to avoid detection.” a custom officer said, asking not to be named.