CHENNAI: Smugglers resorting to concealing gold inside panels of aircraft should be booked under the stringent Civil Aviation Act which gives a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said in a recent instruction to all its zones and Customs formations across the country.
Sources said this was prompted by a few instances where gold smuggling syndicates managed to hide gold bars inside panels of the aircraft, especially inside toilets, which were meant to be retrieved by colluding airline staff, passengers or others.
The modus operandi was detected by the customs officials at Chennai International Airport in March this year and in a few other cases at airports in Kerala on flights which came from Gulf countries.
In addition to financial security implications, such tampering of aircraft panels is risky to flight operations, sources said quoting the DRI communication.
“Because of this, it has been advised to book gold smugglers in such cases under The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982. The maximum penalty under this law is life imprisonment. This would prove to be a strong deterrence,” official sources said.
In addition, DRI and customs officials have also been instructed to invoke the Aircraft Act, 1934 and Aircraft Security Rules 2023 in such cases, the sources added.
The maximum penalty for gold smugglers convicted under the Customs Act is currently seven years of imprisonment. If cases are booked under such stringent acts, this would dissuade them from resorting to such risky modus, sources said.
Section 3 of the 1982 Act details the kind of offences that are covered under it. These include cases of violence on board an aircraft which is likely to endanger its safety, destruction in a way to render it incapable of flight and placing of devices inside an aircraft that cause damage or affect safety while in flight.
Section 3A also includes destruction or damage to an aircraft or facility at the airport using any device, substance or weapon.
There is concern that this modus operandi might be used to smuggle in other contraband as well, sources said.
Sources said to implement this properly, the customs and DRI officials have been directed to work with security agencies like Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the aviation regulatory body Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Penalty just seven years now
The maximum penalty for gold smugglers convicted under the Customs Act is currently seven years of imprisonment. If cases are booked under stringent acts, this would dissuade them from resorting to such risky modus, said sources