Mumbai: DRI recovers 12.5 kg gold; three airport food court staffers among six held

Mumbai, Dec 11 (PTI) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Wednesday arrested six persons, including three individuals working at the food court inside the Mumbai airport, and recovered gold worth nearly Rs 10 crore from them, an official said.

The food court staffers would collect gold from international flyers linked to a syndicate, take it out of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here and hand over the precious metal to others, the DRI official said.

Acting on inputs, DRI officials intercepted two such consignments of smuggled gold when they were being delivered outside the airport and apprehended three food court employees and as many receivers, he said.

The DRI officials seized 24 oval-shaped balls of gold dust in wax form packed in eight pouches. Altogether, 12.5 kg of gold valued at Rs 9.95 crore was recovered, he said.

After interrogation, all six persons were arrested under the Customs Act, he said.

In a statement, DRI said it busted a "big gold smuggling syndicate" with the arrest of the six persons and the recovery of the yellow metal.

Over the past two days, the DRI Mumbai has seized nearly 36 kg of smuggled gold, it added. PTI DC NR