The customs officials apprehended two passengers at the Jaipur airport for allegedly trying to smuggle 1.8kg gold by concealing it in slippers and sandals on Saturday.
Sources said that two passengers had arrived on a flight from Bangkok and had concealed small pieces of gold in the sole of their footwear. The conduct of the two raised suspicion and when a team of customs officials intercepted and questioned them, the accused admitted to smuggling gold which they were after delivering it in Jaipur were supposed to leave for Bihar.
According to customs officials, the trend of smuggling of gold from Bangkok has been on the rise of late. Earlier, the major gold smuggling was done by passengers arriving from the Gulf. Bangkok is a new phenomenon. In the month of October another bid of smuggling gold from Bangkok was foiled when customs officials nabbed a passenger who was carrying 400 gm gold. The accused had come on a private airline from Bangkok to Jaipur and was said to be a resident of Uttar Pradesh. That time, the gold was hidden in a garland and the behaviour of accused had caused suspicion among the customs officials.
Before that in the same month, two passengers coming from Bangkok were caught trying to smuggle 2kg gold at Jaipur airport. They had tried to conceal gold by painting it with black colour.
In August too, the officials seized 1.6kg gold from 4 passengers who had come from a flight from Bangkok to Jaipur. These accused were bringing the gold in the form of bangles, chain and watch.
As per a data issued by the ministry of civil aviation, four cases were registered of gold smuggling at Jaipur airport till June 2018. In 2013, when the rupee fell, the government had increased import duty on gold to 10 per cent and imposed various curbs on shipments to prevent smugglers from trying to evade the import duty.
Not only gold, the security scanners at Jaipur Airport worked with extra caution in January this year as four pistol cartridges were caught with a passenger, while about 1.2kg gold was found in a parcel the next day.
Footwear Sole Used
Sources informed that small pieces of gold were hidden in the sole of the accused duo’s footwear. The team of customs officials nabbed them and both were then interrogated. There is a suspicion that after delivering gold the accused had to go to Bihar. The smuggling of gold from Bangkok has become quite frequent. Till a few months back, gold smuggling was done majorly from the Middle East, but now it’s being carried out even from Bangkok. In the month of October, customs officials nabbed a person who was carrying 400 gm of gold from Bangkok to Jaipur.
