CBI recovers over Rs 50 lakh from customs officials who aided smuggling gang at Trichy Airport

The CBI has recovered over Rs 50 lakh during its searches at the premises of six customs officials arrested for allegedly aiding a smuggling gang at the Trichy Airport in Tamil Nadu, officials said today.

The agency has also recovered gold worth Rs 35 lakh being snuggled by the gang, they said.

In addition to six custom officials, the agency has also arrested 13 members of the gang, including three Sri Lanka nationals.

The officials said this was a serious security issue as the custom officials were allegedly letting contraband in the country without any checking at the airport.

The CBI has carried out searches at 22 locations in Trichy, Coimbatore, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Chennai and Rasipuram.

The agency had busted the gang on Sunday during a surprise check on getting input that large scale smuggling was taking place at the airport in connivance with the customs officials, CBI Spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.

Earlier, during this operation at the Trichy Airport, the CBI recovered Rs 9 lakh (approx) collected as alleged illegal gratification, he said.

Dayal said the smuggling was allowing goods from Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia etc to enter into the country without the payment of customs duty, thereby causing huge revenue loss to the government of India.