Gold collectively valued at Rs 1.16 crore was also confiscated.
Kanumetta Jagadish Babu, Terminal Manager with Mumbai airport operator GVK, and his two associates - Shahbaaz Khan and Shaikh Mohsin - were nabbed today for allegedly trying to smuggle in 14 gold bars worth Rs 39.58 lakh brought from United Arab Emirates, a Customs official said.
"In a joint operation by Customs and Central Industry Security Force, a GVK Terminal Manager (Babu) was caught while trying to smuggle in 14 gold bars," A P S Suri, Commissioner of Customs, told PTI.
The Customs sleuths, who had been keeping a watch on Babu's activities, subsequently caught him and his two aides.
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Babu had been into gold smuggling since the past few months and had smuggled in the yellow metal 8-9 times earlier too, the officials said.
The Manager used to get Rs 30,000 as commission for facilitating safe passage of one kg of illegal consignment of gold from the airport, they said.
Yesterday, another passenger, Nadiya Mubin Bagdadi, who arrived from Abu Dhabi, was found in possession of 10 gold bars collectively valued at Rs 28.27 lakh. Bagdadi was subsequently arrested, the officials said.