Coimbatore: Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Coimbatore, intercepted a passenger at the Coimbatore International Airport on early Tuesday morning and seized 52 rectangular gold bars (3kg) from him. The passenger had smuggled the gold bars from Sharjah to Coimbatore in Air Arabia flight.
The passenger has been identified as H Unais, a native of Gudalur in Nilgiris district. He was working in a bakery in Gudalur. A few days ago, he flew to Sharjah and returned to Coimbatore on Tuesday.
Based on intelligence gathered by DRI, officials intercepted Unais who concealed 52 gold bars (24 carat) weighing about 3kg inside two MP3 amplifiers. The value of the seized gold bars is estimated at Rs 96.52 lakh. Unais was arrested and later released on conditional bail.
On May 10, the officials received information that a group of passengers arriving by Sri Lankan airlines would be smuggling gold by way of concealment. Based on the information, the DRI officials intercepted Mohammed Eliyas, Shahjakhan, Mustafa, Mydeen, Sahul Hameed, Shahabudheen, Prem Nazeer and Mohammed Abdulla at the Coimbatore international airport. They were native of Trichy. The sleuths said that the seven passengers smuggled the gold from Sri Lanka to Coimbatore by the flight and they concealed the gold in their hand luggage.
DRI officials seized 2kg of gold ornaments worth Rs 65.89 lakh from them. They were released under bail by the DRI and further investigation is on.