Hyderabad police and DRI seize gold worth Rs 2.17 crore

HYDERABAD: In a joint operation by Hyderabad police and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), 14 international passengers who came from Jeddah after completion of Umrah, were intercepted at RGI Airport on Tuesday late night and seized 6.46kg of alleged smuggled gold. Some travel agents blackmailed and forced these passengers to smuggle gold.
DRI officials said that each of the passenger was found to be carrying Foreign Marked Gold in the form of cut pieces or 24 carats kadas or 24 carats chains.
"These 14 passengers are residents of Hyderabad who had arrived by Saudi Airlines Flight No.SV-744 from Jeddah on Tuesday. The gold was concealed by these passengers and they did not have a supportive documents," DRI officials said in a press release. The worth of the seized gold is Rs 2.17 crore.
While explaining about the modus operandi, the officials said that some travel agents lured these poor people with a promise to help them visit Umrah at a discounted price.
"During their return journey, passengers were asked by these agents to carry gold and the metal will be collected by someone. The passengers were blackmailed by agents at Jeddah with consequences of either penalty or recovery of full charge of Umrah trip," DRI officials said in a press note.