Guj: 2 held with gold worth Rs 8.20 cr at Ahmedabad airport

Two persons were held Tuesday at Ahmedabad Airport for allegedly smuggling 24.5 kilogrammes of gold bars worth Rs 8.20 crore, Customs officials said.

While their names were not disclosed, these officials said one was a contract employee of a ground handling agency working at Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport, while the other was a passenger, adding that the former was helping the latter get the gold out of the terminal.

"The passenger arrived here on a flight from Dubai on Tuesday morning and exited the terminal through the green channel. Before leaving the airport, the passenger, as per his plan, handed over the gold bars, worth Rs 8.20 crore, to an employee of the ground handling agency," a Customs department release said.

"Based on a tip off, Customs officials first nabbed the employee and then the passenger, who was waiting outside the terminal building to take delivery of the gold," it said.

It said the mastermind of the operation has been identified but is still at large and efforts were on to nab him.

In another operation today, Customs officials caught a passenger, who arrived from Dubai, for allegedly trying to smuggle gold worth Rs 46.77 lakh by concealing it in a juicer, the release added.