Hyderabad: A young Hyderabadi men, in his early 30s, who was allegedly trying to smuggle foreign marked gold into the country, was nabbed by Customs officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Sunday.
The accused, identified as Shaikh Abdul Sajid, having noticed movement of Customs officials and the checking of baggage, dumped the gold bars in one of the toilets near the arrival area and tried to walk away, but was nabbed. In all, 26 gold bars were recovered, said officials.
Based on a tip-off, sleuths from the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs wing at the airport conducted checks at the green channel area for passengers. After about an hour later, they noticed Sajid moving suspiciously and intercepted him.
On inquiry, he initially pleaded innocence, but on thorough questioning confessed to the crime. Based on his confession, 26 foreign marked gold bars, weighing a total of 2,992 grams worth Rs 1,11,60,160, were recovered from the toilet. Inquiries revealed that he carried the gold bars in his hand baggage.
However, after seeing Customs officials, he got scared and dropped the plan of carrying them outside the airport. Further inquiries revealed that the accused, who had landed in an Indigo Airlines flight from Sharjah, was a conduit, who was offered a free ticket by the operators.
Officials are extracting details about the operator and the receiver. They suspect that he could have travelled to Sharjah in search of a job. But on his return, the operators offered him a free ticket for his return and forced him to carry gold with him.
He was told to hand over the gold bars to a person outside the airport. The gold was seized and the accused was arrested. Further investigation is underway, said officials.