Five persons, including a woman, have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold valuing over Rs 2.30 crore in separate incidents at the airport here.
The seizure, made during the last one week, is a result of heightened vigil at the airport, customs officials said.
In the first incident, a woman was intercepted after her arrival here yesterday from Bangkok. On her detailed examination, eight enamelled gold bangles weighing about 3 kgs were recovered which she was wearing in her hands, customs officials said.
The accused, who is in her late twenties and hails from Punjab, was arrested and the recovered gold was seized. The value of the gold is Rs 75.58 lakh, they said.
In another incident, four accused were intercepted by customs officials upon their arrival on January 23 from different international and domestic flights-- one from Bangkok and three from Hyderabad, Mumbai and Amritsar respectively.
One of the accused had hidden 600 gms of gold in his mobile while another passenger had hidden it in his innerwear. Rest were hiding gold in their baggage, the officials said.
The accused were carrying ten gold bars collectively weighing about 6.2 kgs worth Rs 1.57 crore, they said.
All the accused have been arrested and the gold bars have been seized.
The total value of gold being smuggled into the country in these two cases is Rs 232.38 crore.
A man was also arrested on January 19 for allegedly trying to smuggle in the country gold valued at about Rs 32 lakh at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here.
On January 13, three persons were arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle gold valued at about Rs 75 lakh at the airport.
The trio, who hail from Kerala, were intercepted by customs officials upon their arrival from Dubai.
They had concealed three kilograms of gold inside the aluminium strips of their checked-in bags.
On January 7, three persons, including a man and his daughter, were arrested at the airport with gold bars valued at over Rs two crore.
The customs officials had recovered 9 gold bars of one kg each and collectively valued at Rs 2.2 crore from these three passengers, customs officials had said.
Another man was arrested from the airport on January 4 for allegedly trying to smuggle 1.2 kg of gold bars worth about Rs 28.77 lakh.
The accused, a native of Ghaziabad, was intercepted by customs officers after his arrival from Bangkok.
