198 gram gold seized from Thar Express passengers

Sleuths of Border Custom Department (BCD) have seized about 198 grams of gold worth Rs 4.32 lakh from a family travelling in the Thar Express train, which plies between Pakistan and India, at Munabao station in the district, a custom official said today.
The custom officials seized the gold yesterday from five members of a family on their arrival at the station. The members had concealed the gold in their jewellery packs, BCD Commissioner Bansad Garhwal said.
All of them had come from Pakistan to Munabao and they were intercepted at the platform as they alighted from the train yesterday, Garhwal said.

The family belongs to Chouhtan block in Barmer. The gold was seized from the members following which they were interrogated, he said.
As per the rules, a passenger can carry any goods, kind or gold up to Rs 6000 only, and it was the excess amount of gold they carried, he said.
In another case, the Government Railway Police (GRP) stopped four Indian passengers from travelling to Pakistan in the Thar Express due to incomplete documents and manipulation in their passports at Munabao yesterday, an official said.

Manipulations in passports were spotted during inspection and cross-examination of papers by the authorities, chauki in-charge Gajendra Singh Rajpurohit said today.

Those who were stopped included Ganibai of Gandhidham, Abdul Gani of Godhara, Muna Ansari and Shahida of Uttar Pradesh's Etawah city, he said.
All of them were sent back to Jodhpur, from where they boarded the train, he said.