The duo smuggled gold worth Rs 8.16 crore.
Customs officials have arrested an Uzbekistan grandmother-granddaughter duo for allegedly smuggling gold worth Rs 8.16 crore at the international airport here in one of the biggest seizures of the yellow metal in recent times.
The officials had to launch a massive hunt to arrest one of the accused passengers, who changed her clothes at the airport in an apparent bid to dodge the authorities, a senior customs official said.
The accused were intercepted after their arrival from Tashkent on Tuesday.
"One of the passengers was identified on the basis of intelligence and followed right from her disembarkation from the plane. The said passenger (the older woman) was intercepted, however, the search of her baggage and person did not reveal any contraband. She was then allowed to go out," the official said.
A second passenger (the first woman's granddaughter) was then identified based on the same intelligence and found to be moving around suspiciously, he added.
"She was kept under watch and when she attempted to cross the green channel, she too was intercepted. During her baggage and personal check, nothing incriminating could be found. This second passenger too was allowed to go out," the official said. Subsequently, on the basis of a fresh input that the second passenger had abandoned her baggage at the customs arrival hall due to the fear of being caught, customs officers traced an unmarked bag lying near the conveyer belt number nine, where the woman was seen moving around, he said.
"On scanning this bag, suspicious images were observed, suggestive of the presence of gold or gold items within. Since no claimant was available, the bag was opened, which led to the recovery of around 6.5 kilograms of gold in the form of chains etc.," the official said, adding that the seized items were worth Rs 8.16 crore.
This was one of the biggest gold seizures at the airport in recent times, he added. "Customs immediately scanned the CCTV footage to trace the person who had left the bag from which the gold was recovered. A woman was seen leaving the bag near belt number nine. Vigorous efforts were made to trace the passenger. Suspecting that the offender might try to flee the country, a team of customs officers was immediately deputed to the departure side of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA)," the official said.
The officers, through intense efforts, located the second passenger who was proceeding to board a plane to Almaty in Kazakhstan, he said, adding that she had changed her clothes within a span of a few hours (after her arrival from Tashkent and before boarding the plane for Almaty) to dodge customs authorities.
During interrogation, she confessed that she had abandoned the bag containing the gold at the customs arrival hall, the official said. Based on her inputs, the first passenger - the main suspect -was also traced from outside the airport and subsequently, both were arrested, he added.
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