Air India cabin crew caught smuggling over 1.4 kg gold at Kochi airport, probe underway
Air India staff smuggles gold
An Air India crew member was detained in Kerala,for attempting to smuggle gold.Shafi Sharaf, aWayanad native, had 1,487 gm of gold paste wrapped around his forearms. He intended to enter the green customs clearing lane, which is for travellers without any dutiable goods to report while hiding the gold in his shirt sleeves, as reported by ANI.
The Customs Preventive Commissionerate, however, received confidential information that the Air India cabin crew member of the Bahrain-Kozhikode-Kochi service was carrying gold.
Based on the tip, Sharaf was detained at Kochi Airport. He had wrapped the gold paste over his arms, as seen in a picture released by ANI.
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The accused landed in Kochi from Bahrain at approximately 8.30 p.m., according to Jagran News. Less than two hours later, at about 10.20 pm, he was taken into custody by the customs preventive wing.
Earlier, gold bars valued at Rs 3.32 crore (INR 33.2 million) were seized at Chennai International Airport from two passengers, one of whom was a citizen of Sri Lanka, who were detained by the customs officials.
Acting on specific information, the authorities detained two travellers who landed in Chennai from Singapore on Tuesday. They found 68 gold barsweighing 6.8 kghidden in their luggage.
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Chennai Customs in a tweet said, "Based on Intel, 2 pax who arrived from Singapore by AI-347 and 6E-52 were intercepted by Customs on 07.03.23. On search of their baggage, gold totally weighing 6.8 kg valued at₹3.32 crore was recovered/ seized under the CA,1962. Pax were arrested and further investigation is on."
(With inputs from agencies)
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