In two separate incidents, a total of 9 kg of gold was seized at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday morning. The gold, smuggled from Thailand, is valued at ₹6.29 crore.
According to the report, DRI authorities received specific intelligence that a syndicate would conceal gold inside an aircraft. In a statement, the officials said, “The officers of DRI Bengaluru rummaged through the Thai Airways flight from Bangkok, which landed at Bangalore International Airport. The rummaging resulted in the recovery of 6.834 kg of gold in bar form and crude form concealed inside abandoned handbags in the aircraft.”
The officials traced two suspects through the documents found in the abandoned bags. They detained the suspects before they could flee the airport. The suspects confirmed that the bags belonged to them and admitted to smuggling the gold.
A few hours later, 2.18 kg of gold in bar form was recovered and seized by DRI officers from an Emirates flight that arrived from Dubai at Kempegowda International Airport. The contraband was concealed in the front lavatory of the aircraft. A government-certified assayer valued the gold at ₹1.52 crore.
