MUMBAI: Two gold smuggling syndicates using aircraft at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to hide and retrieve contraband have been busted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), with eight people arrested and 15.764kg of foreign-origin gold worth ₹23.63 crore seized.

₹24-cr smuggled gold worth seized at Mumbai airport, 8 held

The arrests were made in two separate operations by the DRI’s Mumbai zonal unit under the Customs Act, 1962.

In the first operation, three foreign passengers arriving from Addis Ababa were intercepted on Thursday and Friday. A search of the aircraft led to the recovery of 12kg of 24-carat foreign-origin gold bars worth around ₹18 crore.

According to the DRI, the passengers had concealed the gold inside the aircraft so that other members of the syndicate could later retrieve it.

In a second operation conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, DRI officers intercepted two aircraft cleaning staff members, a passenger and two other alleged members of the syndicate. They recovered 3.76kg of 24-carat foreign-origin gold dust in wax form worth around ₹5.63 crore.

The passenger had allegedly hidden the gold inside an aircraft flying from Dubai to Mumbai. The plan was for the cleaning staff to retrieve the gold and smuggle it out of the airport for delivery outside, officials said.

DRI officials said further investigation is in progress to identify other members of the smuggling syndicates and unravel the larger network.