Mumbai Airport Customs seized 7.465 Kg gold of Rs. 5.113 Crores across seven cases of contraband gold concealed on the bodies of passengers and contractual staff of the airport late Friday night.

About The Seizure

The contraband gold evading customs levies was hidden in pockets of pants worn by them and inside the body cavities of seven individuals arrested for gold smuggling. The alert customs officials of the elite Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) intercepted three passengers, one arriving from Dubai, and another two passengers from Madagascar with 24 KT Gold Jewelry, Key Rings, Keychains, Keys, kadas in color-coated fashion jewelry with a total of Net Weight of 4.655 Kgs valued at Rs. 3.183 crore concealed on body and pockets of the trousers pants worn by them.

2 Contractual Staffs Arrested

The customs officers also arrested two contractual staff hired by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport working in the departure area of the airport with seven pouches of 24KT Gold Dust in wax having a net weight of 2.81 Kg provisionally valued at Rs.1.93 Crore concealed inside undergarments as well as side pockets of the trouser worn by the contract staff.

The questioning of the airport staff led to the arrest of four other airport staff involved in abetting the smuggling racket with picking of the contraband gold from international flights and handing them to transit passengers on domestic flights to avoid customs checks and detection.

Neral police on Wednesday arrested a man videographed of assaulting another man in a car, in the broad daylight. The incident that happened on September 7, came into light after the video went viral on social media, on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday, @shivsenaUBT _ handle posted the 24 second video on X app and  claimed that the assaulter was the bodyguard of Karjat MLA Mahendra Thorve. The video garnered over 83k views by evening. Even as UBT claimed the assaulter to be associated with MLA Thorve in Karjat, Thorve denied the claims.

“The incident happened on September 7 but the FIR was registered only on Wednesday after we traced the complainant. After we got the video, we traced the complainant with the help of the registration number of the vehicle. We registered the case and traced the accused from Kalyan and arrested him,” Raigad Superintendent of Police, Somnath Gharge, said. The accused identified as Shivaji Govind Sonawale (35) was nabbed from Kalyan. The complaint was registered  by victim Amar Bandal. 

“Prima facie, we haven’t found any political links of the accused. The accused has a criminal record as well,” said the police inspector Shivaji dhavale from Neral police station.

“Both the accused and the complainant were known to each other and the assault was in relation to damages caused to the accused’s vehicle earlier,” Gharge added.

Meanwhile, MLA Thorve denied the allegations made by UBT faction and informed media that the accused in the video was not his bodyguard. In a statement issued, Thorve accused UBT faction of intentionally trying to defame him. 

Mumbai: The Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB) (I) at Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House (JNCH), Nhava Sheva, Navi Mumbai, has successfully intercepted and seized approximately 57,02,400 sticks of Foreign Origin Cigarettes worth Rs 11.40 crore imported from Dubai. The consignment, consisting of 40-footer container, was falsely declared as “Gipsam Plaster Board” and destined to ICD Sanathnagar, Hyderabad, officials said on Wednesday.

According to the Customs sources, upon a thorough check of the 18 pallets inside a 40-foot container, the customs officers discovered that around 400 cartons containing 57,02,2400 sticks foreign-origin cigarettes were concealed in the disguise of Gypsum Plaster Board.

“The modus operandi for smuggling cigarettes in gypsum plaster board involves concealing the contraband within specially crafted cavities inside the plaster board pallets. In this particular case, the foreign-origin cigarettes were hidden within the gypsum plaster board pallets in a 40-foot container. The smuggling technique involved creating concealed compartments or cavities inside the plaster boards, where the cigarette cartons were tightly packed. The shipment was falsely declared as a consignment of gypsum plaster boards, destined for a legitimate location. The concealment was so precise that only a detailed examination could uncover the hidden cigarettes,” said an official.

“By using everyday construction materials as a cover, the smugglers attempted to avoid detection, exploiting the high volume and weight of legitimate shipments of similar goods, which would typically attract less scrutiny,” the official said.