Rs 95 lakh unclaimed gold found on Dubai flight

MOHALI: The customs department recovered unclaimed gold bars from an international flight that arrived here from Dubai on Monday. The three bars weigh a kilogram each and are worth Rs 95.40 lakh.
The shining metal was packed in cardboard, taped, and hidden under the window cavity next to seat number 30-A. Customs officers recovered the gold after searching the aircraft once it landed at Chandigarh. The passenger travelling on that seat denied ownership of the gold, so it was put in the unclaimed category. Customs had prior input about the illegal shipment. In the past 30 days, they have seized 9-kg gold at the Chandigarh International Airport.

Seized in various forms, the smuggled gold is worth Rs 2.87 crore, say sources in the customs department. The flight from Dubai loses international status once it lands at Chandigarh. It departs for the Palam airport in Delhi as domestic flight, so the unclaimed gold concealed in aircraft cavities is likely to be collected by a passenger in Delhi, who passes through the domestic channel without being frisked by security or customs officers.
In 2018, customs seized four shipments of unclaimed gold from Dubai flights. On February 4, 2019, two passengers were caught with diamond-studded gold jewellery and American diamonds, worth Rs 4.16 crore. Diamondstudded gold jewellery, 387 gold items worth Rs 3.85 crore, and eight pieces of American diamonds worth Rs 31,000 were also seized. An Amritsar man tried to smuggle gold by hiding it in his turban. He couldn’t get past the customs on September 29, 2018. The 942-gram gold was worth Rs 29.20 lakh. The man secured bail.
In March, smugglers found an innovative way to sneak gold into India by concealing it into latches. This 2.98-kg gold worth Rs 97.4 lakh was seized from a passenger arrived from Dubai. On April 16, 30 unclaimed gold biscuits of 116 grams each, weighing 3.5 kg in total and worth Rs 1.14 crore, were recovered from a Dubai flight, hidden in the cavity next to a passenger seat.
On April 23, 20 unclaimed gold biscuits of 116.5 grams each, weighing 2.33 kg and valued at Rs 76.28 lakh, were seized from a Dubai flight. The gold was hidden in the magazine-section cavity next to a passenger seat.