The Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Sonegaon is again in the news as the Customs Department recorded yet another rich haul of smuggled gold. Coinciding with the start of 10-day Ganpati Festival, the Customs recorded one of the biggest seizures of pure gold valued at Rs 87.14 lakh in the market. Acting on a tip off, the team of Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) lay in waiting at the airport and checked two passengers who arrived by Qatar Airways on arrival early on Tuesday morning. The two passengers, holding Indian passports, are residents of Hubli in Karnataka. They travelled from Qatar by Qatar Airways flight No QR-590 on September 18 and attempted to smuggle the gold in the form of a paste.

 

To avoid detection, the duo had kept the gold consignment concealed in their baggage. However, as the AIU team had precise inputs, it thoroughly scanned the baggage and discovered the concealed consignment. The operation yielded 1697 gm of 24 carat fine gold valued at total Rs 87.14 lakh, stated a release issued by the Customs Department. The two passengers attempted to smuggle the gold into India to evade the payment of customs duty. Further investigation is under progress by the Officers of Nagpur Customs under the Customs Act, 1962.

 

Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) and Air Customs Unit (ACU) of Nagpur Customs including Superintendent Tridip Pal and Inspector Prabal Kumar led by their Assistant Commissioners V Suresh Babu, ACU and V Lakshmi Narayana, AIU, foiled the attempt to smuggle the gold. The action was supervised by Commissioner of Customs, Avinash Thete, and carried out under the guidance of the Additional Commissioner, Peeyoush Bhati. Off late, Sonegaon Airport is being attempted to smuggle the gold from Middle East. Earlier two to three seizure of gold items was from Air Arabia flight that comes in from Sharjah. This is perhaps the first time that smugglers were trying to hoodwink the authorities and tired Qatar Airways flight. However the strong intelligence network developed by Customs Department foiled the well laid out plans of the smugglers.