Topgold smuggling syndicate, using specially designed bras and panties to smugglegold paste in the country, has been busted. The syndicate had hired womencouriers, wearing these special undergarments to smuggle gold in form of paste.
Oneof the key couriers, a 39-year-old woman, was arrested at Lucknow airport onMonday with 1,259 grams of yellow paste, hidden in specially designed bra andpanty.
Topsources in Customs (Preventive) unit of Lucknow revealed that a young woman,originally hailing from Turkman gate, Delhi, travelling from Dubai, landed fromflight no FZ 8325 on April 26, 2021. On specific input, she was interceptedwhile trying to exit from the airport.
"Whenthe ladies staff searched her, yellow paste was recovered from the bra andpanty worn by the courier. The yellow paste, packed in black polythene andstitched in her bra was recovered," revealed a Customs source.
Theaccused was produced before the Special Chief Judicial Magistrate (Customs),Lucknow on April 27, wherein she was remanded to judicial custody.
Revealingthe unique modus operandi of the syndicate, sources informed that womencouriers, in form of passengers were sent to Dubai from where they carriedconsignments of yellow paste, cleverly hidden in undergarments. The courierswere frequently flying to UAE and returning to India through differentairports.
Forinstance, the woman bearing passport M6779486, arrested at Lucknow on April 26,had flown to Dubai several times. Before landing at Lucknow, she in her earlierjourney to UAE, had returned through IGI airport in Delhi on 6 January, 2021."We are trying to ascertain the kingpin of this syndicate and also thenumber of women couriers engaged in smuggling activities," source added.
Earlieron January 14, this year two passengers, who boarded an Air India Expressflight, IX 1384 from Sharjah were arrested at Mangalore International airport.Both passengers were carrying gold paste, worth over Rs 1 crore hidden in theirundergarments. "Wherever one hides the gold, in whatever form, liquid orpaste, he/she should be clear that we will trace it finally. Some smugglershave hidden gold paste packets in rectum, but we recovered it," said aCommissioner rank officer of the Customs.
Aconfidential report of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) says thatbig-time crime syndicates operating across India are smuggling gold in a pasteform to dodge metal detectors and hi-tech X-ray machines installed at allinternational airports.
DRIreport reveals that these syndicates, through this method, smuggle gold by convertingthe yellow metal into powder and compounds in a paste form. Once theconsignment is smuggled, approximately 700 gm of gold per 1,000 gm of paste isretrieved from a chemical procedure. The gold, in pure form, is then handedover to the concerned party.