Sunday, February 03, 2013
Mumbai airport custom officials arrested a Somali national holding a Netherlands passport, for gold smuggling on Friday morning. The arrest has revealed a new modus-operandi where the accusedhold passports of countries which are generally not on the radar of intelligence agencies and customs.
Customs officers said the accused, Abdi Razzak, flew in from Dubai on a Jet Airways flight carrying 5kg of gold worth Rs1.55 crore. The accused was caught after crossing the green channel on suspicion basis.
Abdi had concealed the gold inside his blazer in form of crude jewellery and bars. “We have arrested Abdi for smuggling. Further investigations are on,” said customs commissioner PM Salim.
During the interrogation, Abdi told customs officers that he was carrying gold to sell in the Indian market after which he was supposed to fly back to Dubai. Customs has found out that he had visited India a month back too.
“He told us that he had come to study the smuggling market in Mumbai and other parts of India. But we doubt his claims as it looks like the last time too he came to sell smuggled gold,” said a senior customs officer.
Abdi was released on bail of Rs2 lakh and has been called back to the customs office on Monday. Customs is now trying to find out the people who were supposed to buy the smuggled gold.