TIRUCHY : In what is considered to be the biggest seizure so far at the Tiruchy airport, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials detained 130 smugglers and recovered gold worth 30 kg, valued at Rs 11 crore, in an operation that began at 9.30 pm on Tuesday. Besides gold, several passengers were found carrying cigarettes, and electronic goods including mobile phones and drones.
Rattled by the increasing number of smuggling incidents through Tiruchy, a 21-member team including two Deputy Directors P Karthikeyan and G Sathish reached the airport on Tuesday evening and questioned a list of identified passengers who arrived by seven different flights. The team, comprising officials from Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Thoothukudi, scrutinized details of more than 700 passengers coming from Malaysia, Singapore, Sharjah and Dubai. They narrowed the list down to 150 frequent passengers who arrived by flights between 10 pm (Tuesday) and 3 am (Wednesday). As soon as the suspects landed, officials took them away for questioning. The inquiries continued till dawn. Sources said DRI questioned around 80 suspects by Wednesday morning.
Fifteen passengers were subjected to medical test.
Most of the smugglers were carrying gold in the form of paste.
“Most of the suspects smuggled gold in paste form so as to avoid detection by metal detectors. We have to conduct the medical test to detect them” said sources.
Many persons were released by Wednesday evening. “The team was having about 50 passengers in custody by evening. These people would also be released after taking their details,” a source said.
Sources said the DRI was likely to release the smugglers on bail. “Most of them were carrying about 200 gram of gold in various forms. Its value would come around `9 lakh. In such cases, the officials will seize the gold and start enquiry against them. That’s why they released several people at various hours. Even if someone is carrying gold worth more than `20 lakh, he can be released on bail after seizing the gold,” a source said.
In August 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted a raid at the Tiruchy airport and arrested six Customs officials and about 13 smugglers.
Most of the smugglers turned out to be couriers and the Central agency failed to arrest the mastermind of smuggling racket.