Air India staffers held for abetting gold smuggling at Kempegowda International Airport
BENGALURU: Two Air India employees — ground staff at Kempegowda International Airport — were nabbed on charges of abetting gold smuggling from the Gulf.
One of them, a 22-year-old woman, was caught on Wednesday while she was picking up smuggled gold paste worth Rs 40 lakh from two passengers. She was to hand over the paste to two gang members waiting outside the airport. All the suspects are from Malayamma in Kozhikode.
KIA officials said the gold smuggling nexus with Air India contract staff came to light after Emirates flight EK 564 from Dubai landed at KIA on Wednesday morning. A couple alighted from the flight with nearly 1kg of gold paste and before heading for Customs, met the woman AI staffer inside the terminal.
The trio admitted to the smuggling to an Air Intelligence Unit team and the AI woman employee said two men were waiting outside the airport to collect the paste. Customs sleuths in the guise of smugglers met the two near the parking area and apprehended them.
Lear More
960 cartons of liquor seized in UP’s Ballia ahead of panchayat polls
The liquor was brought for distribution in the panchayat polls and was also to be smuggled into Bihar, where its sale is prohibited, the SP said.
Liquor worth around ₹40 lakh allegedly meant to be distributed ahead of the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh and for smuggling into neighbouring Bihar has been seized from the city, police said on Thursday.
“During a drive to check the illegal sale of alcohol, 960 cartons of liquor worth over ₹40 lakh were recovered from separate areas on Wednesday,” Superintendent of Police Vipin Tada said.
The liquor was brought for distribution in the panchyat polls and was also to be smuggled into Bihar, where its sale is prohibited, the SP said.
He said police are running a special drive in which a ₹1,000-reward is given to a person if over 100 cartons of liquor are recovered on the basis of his/her tip-off.
Lear More
Two passengers held for smuggling gold
Enforcement authorities at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, detained two passengers in separate incidents on Monday while they were trying to smuggle in foreign origin gold.
In the first case, Shaik Masthan, an Indian National who arrived from Kuwait was caught with 160 grams of yellow metal bars.
He arrived at RGIA by Jazeera airlines flight no J9-1403 in the wee hours of Monday.
“On arrival he was detained by the Air Intelligence Unit of Customs department as he concealed the gold on his body,” an airport official told The Hindu.
In another case, the sleuths of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence detained an air passenger who concealed 2.3 kg gold in a life jacket.
Lear More
ED raids premises of forex dealers in Mumbai, Goa, seize illegal money worth Rs 44.37 lakh
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has conducted searches at the office and residential premises of three forex dealers and their directors situated in Mumbai and Goa and seized illegal money worth Rs 44.37 lakh. The dealing companies Full-Fledged Money Changers (FFMC,) Sete Mares Global Forex Pvt Ltd, Nemichand Khemraj Forex Pvt Ltd.
“The search resulted in the seizure of Rs 44.37 lakh and assorted foreign currencies worth Rs 9.55 lakh which was in contravention of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and Rules and Regulation made thereunder,” the ED said in a statement issued. “Further, incriminating documents, laptops, mobile phones, containing information related to hawala transactions, smuggling of foreign currency were also recovered and seized during the search operation,” it added.
These companies, engaged in the business of foreign currency exchange, had deposited huge amounts of cash in the bank accounts on a daily basis and remitted it through RTGS and NEFT to other FFMCs and collected foreign currency in cash which aroused suspicion against these companies. “It was suspected that these companies may be involved in trade based hawala and the foreign currencies collected by these companies were smuggled out of the country to settle transactions abroad”, the ED said.
Lear More
3 arrested for smuggling IMFL meant for sale in Goa
Aurangabad: The state excise department on Thursday seized a pick-up van for smuggling 1,152 bottle of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) — meant for sale only in the state of Goa. Police have seized the vehicle and alcohol all amounting to around Rs 4 lakh.
The suspects had modified the floor of the pick-up van and installed multiple containers for storing the liquor boxes. To avoid getting nabbed, the accused would put the illegally obtained liquor boxes and cover them with the metal flooring. To deceive the law enforcement agencies, the accused would put some goods in the pickup jeep.
Once delivered, this liquor, purchased at lesser price from Goa, would give them heavy returns after being sold in the open market. The suspects have been identified as Dhamma Wakte and Ganesh Lahane.
An excise official said that the suspects are part of an inter-state racket involved in procuring liquor from Union Territories and selling it in Maharashtra.
Lear More
Two arrested at RGIA for smuggling gold, cigarettes
Hyderabad: Customs sleuths apprehended a passenger who arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International (RGI) Airport from Dubai for trying to smuggle in 1.6kg gold on Tuesday.
Customs officials also apprehended a passenger for trying to smuggle in foreign cigarettes.
The passenger, Amtul H Mohammed, of Hakimpet, concealed pouches containing gold paste weighing about 1.6 kilos inside her clothes. The accused arrived from Dubai at 2.50pm on Tuesday.
Amtul opted for a green channel at customs check area, indicating that she was not carrying any dutiable items. Customs sleuths intercepted her and recovered the gold worth Rs 74 lakh. They booked a case against her under the Customs Act and seized the gold.
In another incident, customs officials apprehended a 41-year-old man for trying to smuggle in 40,000 cigarette sticks.
During the early hours of Wednesday, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel intercepted a passenger, Abdul Azeez K of Kerala who arrived from Abu Dhabi.
Lear MoreFake currency notes of Rs 1.85 lakh face value seized, 1 held
Navi Mumbai police have arrested one person and seized from him fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination with a face-value of Rs 1.85 lakh, an official said on Wednesday.
Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap at the bus depot near the CBD railway station in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday and nabbed the accused, Salim Ali Asril Haque (30), who hails from West Bengal.
“They seized 200 fake notes of Rs 500 denomination. He had come there to exchange the notes with someone,” the police official said.
The police later also carried out a search of his house at Taloja in Navi Mumbai and recovered 170 more notes of Rs 500 denomination each, he said.
An offence has been registered. The accused was produced before a local magistrate, who remanded him into police custody till March 11, the official added.
Lear MoreChhattisgarh: 5 held in connection with smuggling of gold
Raipur, May 3 (PTI) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Monday nabbed five persons in Chhattisgarh”s Rajnandgaon district in connection with the smuggling of foreign origin gold and seized valuables worth Rs 42 crore, officials said.
The Raipur unit of the DRI arrested two persons and apprehended three others in connection with the smuggling of foreign origin gold, an official statement said.
Officials seized 18.18 kg gold, 4545 kg silver and Rs 32.35 lakh, collectively worth Rs 42 crore.
Based on specific inputs, the DRI intercepted two persons while they were carrying foreign origin smuggled gold by train from Kolkata to Rajnandgaon at Raipur, it said.
“Foreign-marked gold bars weighing 13.53 kg were recovered from the duo which was concealed by strapping them with help of cloth on their back,” said officials.
In the follow-up operations, two persons who had come to collect the smuggled gold and the final recipient, a jeweller, were also identified, they added.
Later, a search was carried out at the premises of the said jeweller, which resulted in the recovery of silver weighing 4545 kg and gold bullion and its pieces weighing 4.65 kg, besides Rs 32.35 lakh in cash.
Lear MoreOdisha Police seizes fake currency notes with face value of Rs 7.9 crore
Police on Tuesday seized counterfeit currency notes with a face value of Rs 7.90 crore and arrested three persons in Odisha”s Koraput district during routine checking of vehicles, an officer said.
The personnel of the motor vehicle checking team detained a private car with Chhattisgarh registration number at Sunki outpost under Pottangi police station limits, the officer said.
Three persons including the driver were travelling in the car.
During checking, it was found that there were two bags on the back seat of the car and two other bags in the dickey of the vehicle. On opening the four bags, the police team found bundles of fake currency notes of the denomination of Rs 500, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sunabeda, Niranjan Behera said.
“On being asked, the detainees disclosed that they are coming from Raipur in Chhattisgarh and proceeding towards Visakhapatnam. They also admitted carrying fake currency notes in the bags,” the officer said.
The police team seized fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 7,90,00,000 and arrested the three persons hailing from Janjgir Champa district of Chhattishgarh, he said.
Lear More
Maharashtra: Raids conducted in Navi Mumbai, 21 lakh imported cigarettes worth Rs 4 crore seized
On February 28, imported cigarettes worth Rs 4 crore seized from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Navi Mumbai. According to reports, officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) acting on specific intelligence, conducted a raid in the Navi region in the ongoing all-out war against drug syndicates.
DRI sleuths conducted a raid on Sunday afternoon after receiving a tip-off regarding the smuggling of cigarettes at JNPT. During the probe, officials found 21,60,000 cigarettes in boxes.
According to the officials, several drug consignments have been seized by the DRI over the recent past. In another incident, based on prior information, the agency seized 18 lakh cigarettes being smuggled into the country, added an official.
According to the Navbharat Times report, the cigarette boxes were deliberately kept unprinted with statutory warnings in order to evade taxes. As per government protocols, 100% tax is levied on imported cigarettes in India.
According to the official, the cigarette boxes did not have any kind of statutory warning printed on the boxes, while further investigations are underway to find out the links. Tobacco products come with a message printed on it warning consumers of the health risks, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
Lear More