Lanka-India gold smuggling racket flushed

The Indian Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs department at the Tiruchi airport have cracked an international gold smuggling racket and seized around 5 kg of gold biscuits smuggled from Sri Lanka. The sleuths have arrested six Indian nationals for smuggling the gold worth Indian Rs 89.9 lakh on Tuesday.

The arrested persons had concealed the gold biscuits in their rectum and were instructed to deliver the goods to certain persons in Chennai. They landed in Tiruchi in a flight from Colomboand were planning to take the gold to Chennai via road.

D Sivasankaran, additional commissioner of customs, Tiruchi said based on a specific tip-off they kept a surveillance on the arrival hall of the airport. They intercepted A Theen from Mannady in Chennai and R Salim, A Sagubar Sathik, I Abdul Malik, A Abubacker and S Sagubar Sathik, all hailing from Ramnathapuram district.

Sivasankaran said all the six admitted to have smuggled gold biscuits concealed in their rectum. They also voluntary retrieved the biscuits and handed them over to the customs officials. “In all there were 47 gold biscuits totally weighing 4.86 kgs valued at Rs 89.9 lakh,’’ he said. They had not declared their possession of gold and attempted to evade payment of duty for the gold. The 47 gold biscuits, measuring approximately about 4 cm by 2 cm, were placed in condoms and then pushed into thin polythene covers. The six men then distributed the packets among themselves and hid them in their rectum, the official said.

“Their instructors had not provided the identity of the persons who would collect the gold at Chennai. All the six were photographed in mobile phones which were sent to the receivers in Chennai, who would pick up the smugglers at the airport,’’ the officials said. But the six decided to take the road from Tiruchi, apparently suspecting that security would be tight in Chennai airport.

Their flight took off from Colomboat 6.50am. Sivasankaran said that they were not habitual offenders and it was their first attempt at smuggling. “They were textile traders who visited Sri Lankaa few times and got acquainted with the anti-social elements. They were promised a sum of Rs 4,000 t0 5,000 per person for delivering the gold,” he said.

^ToI