Flyer from Dubai hides gold in aircraft toilet; caught at arrival

A flyer from Dubai who was exiting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) after leaving behind gold bars worth Rs 82 lakh was arrested by Mumbai customs on Friday.

The arrest of the passenger comes as a major success as the recent such cases had led to the recovery of abandoned gold while the passengers had escaped. Based on intelligence, authorities rummaged through a flight arriving from Dubai which led to the recovery of 16 gold bars from the aircraft toilet. The total weight of recovered gold is 1863 grams. Authorities stated that the passenger who had abandoned the gold was identified before he could escape. “The concerned passenger was further identified and arrested in the arrival hall,” they stated. The flyer may have abandoned the gold while someone was to pick it up before the Customs recovered the gold. Investigations done in such cases in the past have revealed that a number of persons are involved in these rackets – from the flyer who conceals the gold to the one who retrieves it. Authorities also probe if any staffer is involved, whose job may have been to retrieve the gold. The gold was seized under the reasonable belief that the same was smuggled into India without payment of customs duty in contravention to provisions of The Customs Act, 1962.