A team of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) members, yesterday, successfully seized 8 gold bars, weighing 1 kilogram each, from an incoming passenger at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport in Ahmedabad. The passenger was arriving on a Dubai flight. The total worth of gold is estimated at around Rs4.21 crore.
The DRI said that they had received information regarding the gold being smuggled in. The gold was hidden in the passenger’s cabin handbag. According to the intelligence received by the authorities, the person was supposed to hand over the gold to a staff member at a duty-free shop. The staff too has been identified and taken into custody.
Cases of gold smuggling in Gujarat are becoming more and more frequent these days. In March this year, DRI arrested three passengers at the SVPI airport for attempting to smuggle gold weighing 2.6 kilograms. They were carrying eleven capsules containing gold with a purity of 99% and having a market value of Rs1.40 crore. In April, DRI seized 18 kilograms of smuggled gold worth Rs8.6 crore in Surat.
