Passenger held with gold paste worth over 50 lakh at Delhi airport

May 03, 2023

New Delhi [India], May 3 : Air Customs at Delhi International Airport has booked a passenger who arrived from Jeddah and seized gold worth over Rs 50 lakh in the form of paste from the person, officials said on Wednesday.
According to police, the passenger has been booked for smuggling gold and the recovered gold has been seized under section 110 of the Customs Act 1962.
"On the basis of profiling, the officers of Airport Customs, IGI Airport, Terminal-3, New Delhi have booked a case of smuggling of gold paste on April 29, against an Indian passenger who arrived at T-3, Indira Gandhi International Airport New Delhi from Jeddah by Flight No. 6E-64 29.04.2023.
"During personal and baggage search of the passenger, four oval-shaped chemical paste suspected to contain gold totally weighing 1165 grams (approx.) including concealing material were recovered from the passenger which after further process of extraction resulted in the recovery of 1013 grams of unevenly shaped gold bar having tariff value of Rs. 53,82,358", the officials said.
According to the officials, the market value of the recovered gold amounts to Rs 60,67,566 approx.
"The passenger has committed an offence punishable under sections 132 & 135 of the customs act, 1962 including an attempt to smuggle gold paste equivalent to Rs. 53,82,358 and the market value is Rs. 60,67,566", informed the officials.
The officials said that a case has been registered and the investigation is underway.