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64 kg gold seized; 57 held at Vizag airport
To surprise and shock of all, gold smugglers arrived en masse into the city on Sunday night. Between them they carried as much as 64 kg of gold stuffed in electronic items worth nearly Rs 20 crore. Soon after their arrival, the officials of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence from Chennai and customs officials at the Vizag
Visakhapatnam: To surprise and shock of all, gold smugglers arrived en masse into the city on Sunday night. Between them they carried as much as 64 kg of gold stuffed in electronic items worth nearly Rs 20 crore. Soon after their arrival, the officials of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence from Chennai and customs officials at the Vizag airport seized around 64 kg gold bars valued about Rs 20 crore and detained 57 passengers who flew in by Silk Air, Air Asia and Malindo flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. All of them hailed from Tamil Nadu, the officials said.
The officials said 55-member gang had split in to three groups and boarded flights in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and reached Vizag airport on Sunday evening. On a tip off, a DRI team from Chennai landed in Vizag early on Sunday. With the help of local customs officials they rounded up all the carriers soon after their arrival. Their handlers are said to be based in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu.
According to sources, initially 20 passengers arrived from Malaysia by Air Asia flight carrying electronic goods. The search party found gold bars concealed inside the electronic goods they were carrying. Later, another group of 10 passengers arrived from Singapore by Silk Air carrying LED TVs, microwave ovens and DVD players.
The last batch of 25 who came from Kuala Lumpur by MalindoAir too carried gold bars concealed in electronic goods. A senior customs official said that to evade the scanners at the airport, the smugglers stuffed the gold biscuits into battery transformers and other electronic gadgets.
Digital scanners cannot detect the yellow metal if it was stuffed into electronic items after being coated with lead. Of the 55 passengers, many traveled frequently and work as carriers. The police in the city are trying to ascertain who were going to receiving the gold and where it was being taken.
