Four held for smuggling gold worth Rs 2 Cr in Mumbai

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) today arrested four persons, including a crew member of Air India, for allegedly smuggling 6.8 kg gold worth Rs 2 crore at the city international airport.
"We apprehended four persons -- two gold carriers, an AI crew member and the mastermind, who received the gold in Mumbai. All of them were held from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here this morning. They are being questioned now," a senior DRI officer said.
Initially, the carriers were arrested as they did not declare the gold, following which the two others were held, the officer said.
The mastermind operating from Mumbai had asked his relatives in Dubai to hand over gold to the carriers.

"Initially, the two carriers were scheduled to arrive in Mumbai by an Air India flight. However, since they missed that flight, they flew by Oman Air and came from Dubai via Muscat," a DRI source said.
The AI crew member facilitated smuggling by sharing his flight schedule to the mastermind, who bought tickets for the carriers on the same flight.
Officials said that one of the carriers also used to carry foreign currency out of the country for allegedly making hawala payment for the gold.