One held for smuggling gold worth over Rs 66 lakh at Hyderabad airport

Hyderabad branch of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Sunday recovered gold worth over Rs 66 lakh from a passenger at the Rajiv Gandhi International Aiport here.

Acting on a tip-off the intelligence officials intercepted the passenger travelling by flight 6E-648 from Indore at 00:40 am Sunday and seized the gold. The passenger has been arrested.

"Upon examination, it was found that the passenger was carrying foreign-marked gold bars weighing a total of 1996.70 grams and valued at Rs. 66.27 lakhs, concealed in his shoes," the DRI said in a statement.

According to preliminary investigations the passenger was found to have retrieved the gold from inside the flight, where it was reportedly left behind by another passenger who was travelling on an international flight from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram.

"The gold was left by international passenger and retrieved by another passenger during a domestic run of the same flight. The passenger was found to be travelling on a fabricated Aadhar Card and did not possess any carrying any documents to justify the gold," the DRI statement read further.

Further investigation in the matter is underway.