Five held for smuggling 1 kg gold in repatriation flight from Dubai

Chennai city police during the wee hours of Tuesday nabbed a gold smuggler and rounded up another four passengers who were among the stranded Indians repatriated from Dubai. Police also seized one kilogram of gold worth Rs 52 lakhs from them.

Chennai: City police apprehended a gold smuggler and four passengers who were among the stranded Indians flown into the country from Dubai, and one kilogram of gold worth Rs 52 lakhs was seized from them during the small hours on Tuesday. The racket was busted when the final arrangements for institutional quarantine for all 180 passengers that arrived on Air India flight.

Police said they spotted a person handing over cash to a passenger and collecting baggage in one of the buses which left for a quarantine centre in Kancheepuram district. Police picked up the person for interrogation during which he downplayed it as medicine and old defunct watches and electronic items.

Sustained interrogation led to the seizure of gold. Four other passengers who helped carry 250 g each on them were also taken back for questioning from the camp.

It is pertinent to note sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the high-profile Kerala gold smuggling case, has already begun their probe in Chennai and has carried out enquiries with customs officials here.

Read: Kerala Gold smuggling: Customs Dept submits copy of Swapna Suresh's statement to court