A significant difference in gold prices between India and Dubai has encouraged is smuggling from the United Arab Emirates. While many smugglers often get caught, some managed to escape. In one such instance, a Kerala girl managed to dodge customs officials and airport security while smuggling gold worth Rs 1 crore. The woman had arrived at Karipur or Calicut Airport from Dubai on Sunday.
The woman was recognised as Shahla (19) and is a resident of Kasaragod. The police arrested her outside the airport based on a tip-off and recovered gold weighing 1.884 kg hidden in her undergarment. The gold was found in three packets. Shahla arrived at the airport on Air India Express flight at 10:30 PM. She was arrested by the city police after she left the airport following customs clearance.
The woman initially denied smuggling gold and police could not find anything from her baggage. However, the gold was found in three packets sewn into her undergarments.
The police are interrogating her to find out more details and the names of the people for whom she worked. The seized gold will be submitted to the court along with a detailed report to customs for further investigation. This is the 87th case of gold smuggling caught by the police outside the Calicut airport.
PHOTOS: From sports bras to wigs, six weird ways used by smugglers to sneak gold into India
Gold smuggling has one of the big sources of income for smugglers and there seems to be a big racket behind it. Today, the CISF nabbed an international passenger attempting to smuggle gold in paste form weighing about 6.452 kg (worth approx Rs 3.20 crore) by passing it over to a domestic passenger at the Mumbai Airport. The CISF handed over both passengers to customs.
yesterday, the CISF had nabbed another international passenger who was attempting to smuggle gold dust weighing about 1.2 kg by passing it over to a domestic passenger from a glass bifurcation between boarding gates at Mumbai Airport.
