26 gold mules held at RGIA in last one year: Customs

HYDERABAD: Twenty-six alleged gold smugglers, including a foreign national, were caught by customs authorities at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in the last one year. In terms of arrests, Hyderabad could be among top five airports in the country. In this regard, 86 cases were registered and gold worth Rs 16 crore was seized.

Customs officials on Wednesday said the recent seizure of 3.4kg gold from a passenger on May 5 was the biggest catch in the recent past. “There were no repeat offenders. In the recent past, two to three cases of gold smuggling were unearthed almost every week. Since April 1, we have already caught 14 persons,” Hyderabad customs commissioner MRR Reddy said.
Except three or four persons, the remaining were only transporters and did it for some personal benefit.
When asked why officials could not nail final receivers, the customs sleuths said it was difficult to find who exactly was the final receiver since there would be multiple layers. Also, the transporter would not have much details except the immediate unknown receiver, they said. “Of the five persons nabbed recently, three were receivers, but they were not the final receivers. In one case, with the support of local police, we went to the residence of the final receiver, but that operation was not successful,” the customs officials said.