Saturday, August 13, 2011

Mumbai airport: Man held with 1cr worth of gold hidden in knee caps.

MUMBAI: A passenger carrying four kg of undeclared gold, worth more than Rs 1 crore, hidden in his knee pads, was detained by Customs officials at Mumbai airport on Friday morning. The passenger was later found to be a carrier of gold meant to be smuggled out of the country.

The officials said Adam Hameez, 30, landed from Dubai at 4 am by Air India (AI) flight AI 984. He tried to cross the green channel but was intercepted by assistant commissioner Sameer Wankhede around 4.45 am. "His baggage was checked but nothing suspicious was found in it. On checking further, we found gold chains and other jewellery items concealed in the pads,'' a Customs official said.

Hameez, who hails from Karnataka, confessed after interrogation that he was a carrier. "He said he was only carrying the goods for a supplier who had paid for his tickets besides an additional Rs 20,000,'' the official said. Officials have got the recipient's telephone number from Hameez and are trying to locate him.

The officials said that though gold smuggling is frequent, such a huge amount is usually not carried by a person in one go. "The last case was detected six months ago, when a passenger was detained in Mumbai with gold worth Rs 20 lakh. Such big consignments are rare. With gold prices going up, smuggling is likely to rise,'' an official said. 

Source:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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