Gold seized from Qatar Airways crew

A Qatar Airways crew member has come under the scanner of customs officials for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth about Rs six lakh.
The accused, a woman crew of the airline, was intercepted by customs officials on her arrival from Singapore here last week.
"She was coming from Singapore as a passenger and she was not on duty. The passenger was stopped for checking and allegedly found carrying about 232 grams of gold," an airport security official said.
The value of the seized gold is about Rs six lakh, he said.
When contacted, India's office of Qatar Airways refused to comment on the matter.

"The customs officials had an input that the accused was carrying gold and hence she was intercepted," the official said, adding the customs department would take up the matter with Qatar Airways authority also.

There has been a sharp rise in cases of gold smuggling across the country.
Customs officials at Delhi international airport have registered 363 cases of gold smuggling and seized 353 kg of the precious metal during 2013-14. The value of the seized gold is approximately Rs 90 crore, officials said, adding 123 people were arrested in these cases.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who has been asking people to control their passion for gold, had early this year said about 1,000-3,000 kg of yellow metal is smuggled into the country every month.

Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)--lead agency to check smuggling-- and customs department are keeping a strict check at international transit points including airports and land borders to keep a check on gold smuggling.