TIRUCHY: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence sleuths on Friday busted a major smuggling attempt and seized gold worth about Rs 5.6 crore in Tiruchy.
Sources said three teams keeping vigil at the airport scanned through passengers from two Malaysian flights, a Singapore flight and a Dubai flight. The teams recovered about 11 kg of gold from 57 passengers. According to sources, this is a major seizure by DRI this year in Tiruchy.
In April, the DRI caught an airline cabin crew and a passenger and recovered 2.5 kg of gold from them. Last year, the DRI had busted several novel smuggling attempts in which gold was concealed inside the toothpaste, cosmetics, and beauty creams.
In March 2021, a passenger was kidnapped from the airport by a smuggling racket gang. Considering this incident and similar incidents in the past, the airport had increased CCTV coverage and multiple agencies have been maintaining vigil.
“Always avoid transporting any material for others as smugglers hide gold in such goods and you might end up getting booked for the crime. We have several times come across such incidents in Tiruchy and other airports,” an officer said.