DR BABASAHEB Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur is again in the news as the Customs Department recorded yet another rich haul of smuggled gold. Nagpur Customs recorded one of the biggest seizures of pure gold valued at about Rs 2.01 crore, informed Customs officials. Based on profiling, Nagpur Customs Officers have prevented an attempt of gold smuggling at the Nagpur International Airport in the early hours of September 29, 2023. One passenger, holder of Indian Passport, a resident of Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, who had travelled from Sharjah to Nagpur by Air Arabia flight (G9 415) on Friday, had attempted to smuggle gold in solid form which was kept concealed in a coffee maker kept in his baggage. In this operation 3.498 kilograms of 24 karat fine gold having market value of Rs 2.01 crore was recovered from him. The passenger, who travelled to Nagpur for the first time was caught when attempted to smuggle the gold into India to evade the payment of Customs Duty. However, the alert and vigilant officers of Customs at Nagpur airport, upon profiling, noticed the suspicious movements of pax and, upon examination, noticed abnormal weight of the coffee maker, ascertained some item concealment inside it. Thereafter, when the coffee machine was cut open for checking, it was found that, two solid gold round pieces were scooted in the specially fabricated steel casing in the coffee maker.

 

The Customs officers were acting upon the direction from the Commissioner of Customs, Avinash Thete and under the guidance of the Additional Commissioner, Peeyoush Bhati. The team of Officers of Air Customs Unit (ACU) and Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Nagpur Customs were led by their Assistant Commissioners V Lakshmi Narayana, AIU and Charanjeet Singh includes Superintendents Tridip Pal, Prakash Kapse and Sudhakar Barapatre, Inspectors Aditya Bairwa, Priyanka Meena, Manish Pandarpurkar and Subham Panthi Kori and Hawaldars Chandu Dande and Anurag Parikar. Further investigation is under progress by the officers of Nagpur Customs under the Customs Act, 1962. This was the second time in last 10 days, when Nagpur Customs stopped the smuggling of gold. Earlier, on September 19, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Nagpur Customs seized around 1,697 gram gold, worth over Rs 87.14 lakh, intercepting two smugglers from Hubli in Karnataka at the Nagpur airport. The gold was found in semi-liquid form in the baggage. Following a tip-off, the Customs officials intercepted the smugglers who had flown in from Qatar. Also, August 21, 2023 gold worth Rs 44 lakh was seized at Nagpur Airport. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Nagpur has arrested one person in connection with smuggling gold weighing 743.56 grams worth approximately Rs 44 lakh at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at 4 am. DRI has seized the passport of the accused and has handed over the matter to the Customs Department for enquiry. The accused is Sachin Chandoskar, a resident of Ulhasnagar, Thane.