9 held at airport with Rs 25 lakh gold

CHENNAI: Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Friday intercepted nine passengers who arrived from Colombo at the airport here with smuggled gold worth Rs. 25 lakh. They said the passengers were later handed over to the customs officials for further investigation. DRI officials suspected that the nine could be part of a larger network in the city involved in smuggling.DRI officials said they acted on a tip-off that passengers arriving in a flight belonging to a private airline at the airport had concealed gold in their baggage. They then stopped nine passengers - one Sri Lankan and eight from Tamil Nadu, who arrived from Colombo, and began an inquiry. After two hours of inquiry, they confessed to have smuggled the gold. DRI officials said six passengers had 27 hooks or buckles made of gold - each weighing about 30 to 35 grams and coated with black paint. Two small pieces of gold were found inside a talisman worn by one of the passengers, while two more pieces found in ayurvedic pain ointment bottles. Two rings made of crude gold were found on the person of two passengers. In all, 34 pieces of gold weighing 984 grams worth `25 lakh were seized.“Gold price differs in Sri Lanka compared to Indian rates and the passengers we identified were frequent travellers bringing gold from there. The passengers had only hand baggage and they carried everything in it. Not that they were smuggling gold biscuits to be easily found. The hooks or buckles they carried were hung in zipper bags. They removed and showed them to us,” said C Rajan, Additional Director General (ADG), DRI.“We suspect a person from Mannadi, who could be involved in smuggling. These passengers pass on the gold to an agent, who in turn passes it on to another and finally it reaches the jeweller. We have handed over the case to customs,” he said.