BHUBANESWAR: Officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence intercepted three passengers at the parking lot of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here and recovered 5822.93 grams of gold from them which was allegedly being smuggled into the country. Acting on a tip-off, the officers intercepted three passengers, who had boarded Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bhubaneswar, at 11.30 pm at the parking lot near Terminal 2 and recovered gold biscuits from them. The foreign-made biscuits are estimated to cost over `1.88 crore in the open market.
“The passengers revealed that they received the gold biscuits in Bangkok from a Thailand resident and he asked them to deliver those to a person in Bhubaneswar,” an officer of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence said. The passengers reportedly told the investigators that the Thailand native had informed that a person would call them once they reach the Capital.
The three passengers concealed the gold bars under their foot by strapping those with an adhesive tape and covered it with socks. The passengers are natives of West Bengal and Punjab.Customs officers informed that 14 cases of gold smuggling have been detected in the last two months at the airport and about 5.5 kg gold seized from different passengers.