Customs Dept Officials Launch Man-Hunt to Nab Absconding Gold Smugglers in Lucknow

Illegal cigarettes worth Rs 3.5 crore and Rs 25 lakh cash were recovered from 36 passengers at Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport on April 1.

Rampur(Uttar Pradesh):Thirty passengers, who fled from the Lucknow airport in an alleged gold smuggling case, hail from the Tanda area of Rampur. The Customs team of Lucknow and Bareilly reached Tehsil Tanda of Rampur and has been stationed there for over two days for further investigation.

It may be recalled that 30 people, who were detained at the Lucknow airport for allegedly smuggling gold into the country escaped after one of them pretended to fall sick and created chaos, according to officials. Customs officials and police officers launched a search operation to nab the accused, they said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Shashank Singh said officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the Customs Department on Monday stopped 36 passengers from Sharjah at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport here. When the officials frisked them, cigarettes worth more than Rs 3 crore and cash worth Rs 23.90 lakh were seized from some of them, Singh said.

Six of the passengers told officials that they were carrying gold, he said. On Tuesday, when the remaining 30 passengers were being questioned, one of them pretended to be ill and created chaos. Taking advantage of this, all of them fled, the officer said. A case has been registered under relevant Sections on the complaint in the matter and efforts are being made to arrest the accused, he added.

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