A man was today arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth about Rs 1.73 crore at an international airport here.
The passenger, who hails from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, was intercepted by customs officials after his arrival from Dubai.
"On x-ray of his baggage nothing objectionable was noticed. However, during his personal search, a cotton belt was found wrapped on the waist beneath his trouser.
"Six gold bars (one kg each) weighing total six kgs were recovered which were concealed in the hollow space of the cotton belt," a custom official said.
The total value of gold bars is assessed to be Rs 1.73 crore approximately.
The gold bars have been seized and the passenger has been arrested, the official said adding that further investigation in the case was on.
Of late, a number of passengers have been arrested from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for allegedly trying to smuggle gold into the country.
On August 31, a woman was held for allegedly trying to smuggle a gold bar worth Rs 45 lakh. A man was also arrested on August 24 for allegedly trying to illegally bring in gold bars worth over Rs one crore from the airport.
On August 17, two passengers were arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle in gold worth about Rs 55 lakh at the airport.
Citing recent structural changes in import duty of gold by the Finance Ministry, the Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI), which analyses and disseminates intelligence related to smuggling and customs duty evasion, has sounded an alert to all international airports and other transit points within the country to check smuggling of gold.
They have been asked to intensify measures, including minutely scanning of suspect passengers and commercial consignments to check smuggling of gold, officials said.
The officials fear that the upcoming festive season, including Diwali, and marriages being solemnised between November and February, will also push the demand for gold in the country, giving rise to its smuggling, they said.
There are 19 international airports in the country -- Srinagar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Nagpur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Chennai, Calicut, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Port Blair.
