Mangaluru: The officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Regional Unit, Mangalore, mounted surveillance at the Mangalore International Airport, nabbed one person arriving from Dubai and seized 1282 gms of pure gold.
The accused is Ahamed Nabeel Gaffoor (21) from Kerala. He has arrived at MIA by Spicejet Flight No. SG-60 from Dubai to Mangalore at around 18.00 hrs on January 30.
On arrival of the Aircraft from Dubai, the said passenger Ahamed Nabeel Gaffoor was identified and intercepted right at the Aircraft door and was taken to Customs Arrival area and subjected to thorough checking.
On his personal check, it was revealed that he was carrying a mobile like item in his front trouser pocket. It was also observed that the said so called mobile was heavier than usual and it was sealed from all the sides. On interrogation, Ahamed Nabeel accepted that he has concealed 11 told gold bars of foreign origin inside that mobile pouch.
On opening the said mobile cover(pouch) it was found that 7 tola bars of gold of foreign origin(intact) and 4 tola bars of gold of foreign origin cut into 8 pieces(totally 15 pieces) were cleverly concealed inside said mobile phone cover(pouch) by using black/silver adhesive tapes in order to avoid detection.
The said gold pieces weighed 1282 grams in total and were found to be of 24 Karat purity and their current market value was placed at around 39 lakhs. The contraband gold was later seized by the officers of DRI under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
The passenger Ahamed Nabeel Gaffoor was arrested for attempting to smuggle gold bars into the country.
Further investigation in the case is in Progress, said release from DRI Deputy Director Vinayak Bhat.
