Mumbai, Sep 25: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Zonal Unit, has seized 9.40 kg of foreign-origin gold valued at about Rs 14.81 crore and arrested three Indian passengers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

The interception took place in the early hours of Wednesday (September 23) based on specific intelligence, with operational assistance from the Air Intelligence Unit of Mumbai Airport Customs. The three passengers, who had arrived from Dubai, were found carrying a sophisticated concealment of gold.

A detailed examination of their baggage revealed that foreign-origin gold had been converted into fine powder and meticulously mixed with packaged food products of similar colour, texture, and consistency. This method was designed to evade routine detection.

The gold powder was concealed across several ordinary-looking food packets, including milk powder, oats, various flours, Nutella and coconut milk powder. In total, about 33.50 kg of food products mixed with gold powder were recovered from the baggage of the three travellers.

Through careful segregation and assaying, DRI officers recovered 9.40 kg of pure foreign-origin gold. The seized gold has been valued at around Rs 14.81 crore. The consignment was seized under the relevant provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

During questioning, all three passengers admitted that they were acting on behalf of the same organised gold-smuggling syndicate. Customs arrested them under the Customs Act, 1962.

Officials described the modus operandi as novel and highly sophisticated. By blending powdered gold with everyday food items that closely matched its appearance and texture, the smugglers attempted to bypass standard security and customs checks.

The DRI said the operation highlights the evolving tactics used by international gold-smuggling networks and the agency’s continued efforts to dismantle such syndicates. The case forms part of the DRI’s sustained crackdown on gold smuggling through Indian airports.

Further investigations are under way to identify other members of the syndicate and trace the larger network behind the operation.

New Delhi, Sep 25: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Sunil Sharma, reacting to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s ultimatum to CEC Gyanesh Kumar on “either resign within 48 hours or face protests”, said on Friday that many forces in the country are working against its growth and are trying to weaken the constitutional institutions.

“We heard CJP’s ultimatum. This is a newly formed party, and I cannot say yet what their expectations or goals are. But the direction in which they have started doing politics raises questions, because there is a history here,” he said, speaking to newsmen.

In the aftermath of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke’s Thursday press conference with his peers, spokespersons Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka,

“Whether in name of secularism or the way the Communists expanded their political ground here, could they also be moving in the same direction?” he asked.

“Our nation is growing at fast speed. Many powers are at play, working to reduce the pace of the ‘Viksit Bharat ‘. Owing to these powers, many tools are growing that are working against the nation, we have to counter these forces too,” he said.

“When the youth of the nation, using some external force, try to debilitate or defame constitutional institutions, somehow it affects their future, as well as it affects the nation’s future. We should come together for the growth of the nation,” he added.

BJP MP Ghulam Ali Khatana, reacting to CJP’s statement on CEC Gyanesh Kumar, said, “India is a very large democratic country. Everyone has the right to protest and put forward their views. Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, democratic institutions and people’s rights have been strengthened and empowered.”

West Bengal Minister Dilip Ghosh said, “Every 4 to 6 months they bring out a new issue which is against the institutions of the country or against the country. Defames the country somehow. This is nothing but a publicity stunt. The public is slowly realising these issues. They are trying to defame the country’s institutions.”

He added that first came the Gen Z protests, and now CEC Gyanesh Kumar is being defamed.

“These are conspiracies against the nation. Some elements do not have a sense of the nation, and they just get on the streets to create chaos,” Ghosh said.

BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa said, “Their cause is baseless. Moreover, Congress has no real agenda; that’s why they push agendas when there are none.”

“You are losing elections left and right; first they blamed the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine), but when that didn’t work, now you are directly blaming the Chief Election Commissioner,” he claimed.

Earlier, addressing a press conference on Thursday, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said that if within 48 hours Gyanesh Kumar doesn’t resign, the Cockroach Janata Party will start a nationwide agitation and vowed to sit on strike unless the CEC steps down.

Ayodhya, Sep 25: As Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief Akhilesh Yadav began his campaign for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Raebareli, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Friday that the Rath Yatra could start from anywhere, even from someone’s home, but claimed that Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was also uneasy as the SP Chief was making inroads into whatever little vote bank the grand old party had left in the state.

Speaking to media, BJP MP Ravi Kishan said, “The Rath can start from anywhere, even from someone’s home, but everyone feels that Rahul Gandhi ji has also become uneasy because Akhilesh Yadav ji is making inroads into whatever little Congress vote bank remains. Now, look at their politics. Only they (SP and Congress) and God know what they are doing.”

“Our politics is that of the BJP. Our focus is on how we can win all the seats in Purvanchal and work harder on the seats where we are weaker. We are focusing on that. Their (SP’s) Rath can go anywhere; let it go wherever they want. If their Rath travels all the way to Pakistan, it does not matter to us,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party said that no place belongs to anyone permanently.

SP MP Awadhesh Prasad said, “No place belongs to anyone permanently. It is the grace of the people. Yesterday, the Samajwadi Party, under the leadership of Akhilesh ji, took out a Rath Yatra to Raebareli. We went to the place where injustice and atrocities had taken place and where our elected representative had been insulted.”

“There was no special preparation, and the weather was also not favourable. Despite this, the way a huge crowd gathered surprised everyone. The intentions of those who were with the BJP were completely shaken,” he added.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to begin his (Pichhada, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak) PDA Rath Yatra from Raebareli — the Lok Sabha constituency of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi — on September 24 has brought the relationship between the two key INDIA bloc allies into focus ahead of the high-stakes Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled early next year.

Akhilesh’s Rath Yatra, being undertaken in a specially designed bus, is aimed at consolidating the SP’s PDA — social coalition ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled for February 2027.