Eight women and two men, part of a Sri Lankan smuggling racket, who landed at the Bengaluru airport with gold weighing over 3 kg hidden in their bodies, were nabbed by the customs sleuths.

The gang was carrying the precious metal worth a whopping Rs 1.52 crore which they had planned to hand over to their accomplices in Bengaluru for further illegal deals.

After a brief hiatus, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) saw one of the biggest gold smuggling attempts in recent times on Saturday night when the Sri Lankan Airways flight UL 171 from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport touched down in the city with over 150 passengers.

Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Bangalore Customs on duty at the Bengaluru Airport carried out passenger profiling of the disembarking flyers from the Sri Lankan flight and noted something amiss about a group of women who were walking towards the immigration bay.

Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Bangalore Customs on duty at the Bengaluru Airport carried out passenger profiling of the disembarking flyers from the Sri Lankan flight and noted something amiss about a group of women who were walking towards the immigration bay.

“Following which the Customs team intercepted the women and realised that they were all smuggling in gold from Colombo as part of a plan to bring it to Bengaluru. Two men who were part of their gang who also flew along with them were nabbed as well and all ten were carrying the gold in its paste form in their rectum in an attempt to smuggle out of the airport by evading authorities,” an investigating officer at KIA told TOI.

The ten smugglers who are all Sri Lankan passport holders were escorted away by the Customs sleuths and the suspects handed over the smuggled gold in their possession following thorough questioning. Gold weighing over 3.06 kg estimated to cost approximately Rs 1.52 crore in its present market value was recovered from the bodies of the gang members.

Following detailed interrogations, the Sri Lankan gang was booked for the smuggling attempt and the gold was seized by the Customs team. Further probe is underway into the gang’s links in Bengaluru to whom they were scheduled to hand over the smuggled gold, sources added.

Source: Times of India
-Agencies