Delhi cops nab two men for smuggling gold worth Rs 2 crore at IGI

Customs at the Indira Gandhi International airport on Thursday caught two men for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth about three crore rupees by hiding it into different machinery parts. Both were arrested and the gold was seized.

According to the officers, the two men, aged 29 and 32 years, had arrived at the IGI airport from Dubai in a Jet Airways flight. Minutes before the duo was about to exit the green channel, they were stopped by customs sleuths deployed at Terminal 3 who then asked them to cooperate in a thorough frisking.

"It was then, while checking their baggage, some electrical equipment were recovered. On checking closely it was found that gold plates, coloured metallic were concealed in equipment. Market value of these gold plates weighing more than 10 kilograms is worth Rs 2.04 crore," an official said.

They said that both of the men were asked about the gold but since they could not provide with any satisfactory reply, they were arrested under the provisions of section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962 and the gold was seized. Further investigation is underway, the officer said. Customs at the IGI airport have stepped up vigil following repeated cases of gold smuggling busted at the airport recently.