VASCO
The Air Intelligence Unit of Goa Customs siezed 720 grams of unclaimed gold bars worth Rs 19.92 lakh from a seat pouch of an Air India flight at Dabolim Airport on Wednesday morning.
According to information received from sources in the Customs, while performing duties during arrival of Air India Flight AI-994 on Wednesday, the officers of Goa Customs headed by Manish Kumar Choudhary, the Assistant Commissioner of Customs (Baggage), under the supervision of GB Santimano, Additional Commissioner of Customs, Goa, rummaged the aircraft and found two small black pouches containing 4 cut gold bars weighing 720 gms, from an unoccupied seat pocket of the aircraft.
The officers inquired about the ownership of gold from the passengers but no passenger came forward to claim the same.
Speaking to the media, Additional Commissioner of Customs, G B Santimano said the 4 gold pieces totally weighing 720 gms were valued at Rs 19.92 lakh. Santimano also said the flight had arrived from Dubai and was to leave for Bangalore from Goa.
“The whole exercise was conducted under the overall guidance of R Manohar, Commissioner of Customs. We can anticipate that the gold bars were to be inserted in the rectum of a passenger and to avoid the rummaging done by Customs in Goa, it was placed in the pouch of an unoccupied seat. No one claimed the gold upon enquiry for fear of arrest. It is likely to be the job of a passenger moving to Bangalore. Further investigation is on,” said Santimano.
