₹24-cr smuggled gold worth seized at Mumbai airport, 8 held

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 15.764 kg of foreign-origin gold worth ₹23.63 crore at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai.

Eight people were arrested in two separate operations under the Customs Act, 1962.

In the first operation, three foreign passengers from Addis Ababa concealed 12 kg of 24-carat gold bars worth ₹18 crore inside an aircraft for later retrieval by syndicate members.

In the second operation, DRI intercepted two aircraft cleaning staff, a passenger, and two other syndicate members, recovering 3.76 kg of gold dust in wax form worth ₹5.63 crore hidden on a Dubai-to-Mumbai flight.

The syndicates used aircraft to hide gold, with cleaning staff tasked to retrieve and smuggle the gold out of the airport.