In its sustained effort to combat gold smuggling, DRI Chennai has so far seized around 163 kg of gold worth ₹97 crore in 29 cases, and 43 persons have been arrested since January 2023 onwards in different parts of Tamil Nadu.
Mumbai: A record 149 flyers of 156 passengers on a flight from Oman to Chennai were held on Thursday night by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths for mass smuggling of contraband in the southern capital of Tamil Nadu.
A total of 13 kgs gold, over 2500 smartphones and saffron with a total value of ₹14 crore was seized from the 149 passengers attempting to smuggle the items evading high customs duties.
The strict vigil at Mumbai and Delhi airports had led the criminal syndicate to change routes from Middle East to south Indian airports of Chennai, Cochin and Hyderabad which has seen a rise of seizures and arrests in the last three months.
“A new trend has emerged of labour immigrants from gulf being used as miles to smuggle gold and other contraband from southern airports after the crackdown on the gold smuggling rackets at Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Delhi. Last three months have seen a phenomenal rise in gold seizures from Tamil Nadu airports and sea routes,” explained a senior customs and revenue official.
In its sustained effort to combat gold smuggling, DRI Chennai has so far seized around 163 kg of gold worth ₹97 crore in 29 cases, and 43 persons have been arrested since January 2023 onwards in different parts of Tamil Nadu.