At the Mumbai airport, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) discovered gold being smuggled into India in paste form and detained 18 Sudanese women together with one Indian lady who had 16.36 kg of the yellow metal, worth Rs 10.16 crore.
On April 24, a group of DRI representatives set up surveillance at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport when the passengers were flying from the UAE to Mumbai.
The group of DRI officials at the airport recognized and detained the suspicious individuals on three flights. A comprehensive investigation resulted in the recovery of 16.36 kg of gold in jewelry, gold pieces, and paste form.
According to authorities, the majority of the seized gold was discovered hidden on the corpses of the suspected passengers, making it very difficult to find.
A follow-up search at connected locations turned up 1.42 kilogram of gold valued at around Rs 85 lakh, along with foreign cash worth Rs 16 lakh and Indian currency worth Rs 88 lakh, an officer said.
According to insiders, this is a unique method of operation that the DRI has exposed, highlighting the difficult problem that agency personnel often confront in trying to track down syndicates bringing gold into the nation under different guises.
He said that authorities detained an Indian lady who was organizing the passage of the passengers as well as 18 Sudanese women who were carrying the illegal gold. To find more participants in the scam, further investigation is being conducted.
