the goan I network
VASCO
The Air Intelligence unit of Goa Customs on Tuesday seized 929 grams of gold worth Rs 26.6 lakh from the rear toilet of an Air India plane at Dabolim Airport.
The gold was concealed in a waist belt found in the rear toilet of the Air India Flight AI 994 that had arrived Dabolim Airport at 4.15 am.
With this incident, Goa Customs Airport has so far seized 5 kgs of gold valued at Rs 1.30 crore, foreign currency worth Rs 14 lakh and commercial goods in trade quantity worth Rs 24.5 lakh since April.
According to information, Customs officials were performing duties on arrival of Air India Flight Al-994 on Monday, when Customs Intelligence Officers of Goa Customs headed by Dr P Raghavendra, Assistant Commissioner of Customs and N G Patel, Assistant Commissioner of Customs, found a waist belt weighing 1510 gms.
Patel informed that the belt containing the gold was found in the rear toilet of the plane.
“The belt was placed in the rear toilet of the aircraft. The intelligence officers inquired about the ownership of the waist belt from the passengers but no passenger came forward to claim the ownership. On opening the belt, gold was found in a paste and after extraction, 929 grams of gold was recovered at a value of Rs 26.6 lakh,” said Patel.
Patel further informed that Goa Customs had foiled an earlier attempt to smuggle gold worth Rs 13 lakh in a similar fashion.
“In a similar fashion, a case was detected in transit flight where the gold in paste form was found inside the shoes of a passenger. The transit passenger was offloaded along with two receivers of the gold who were travelling as domestic passengers on the same flight,” added Patel.
