Gold smuggling to India: 15.2kg on 2 flights from Gulf

In the past one week, two international flights have been the focus of Customs officials in India after a combined 15.2kg of gold was smuggled into the country aboard passenger jets from the region.

In one instance, an off-duty cabin crew member who was travelling as a passenger onboard a flight to Hyderabad was caught with 13kg of gold in her baggage on April 9, 2014.

When contacted, a spokesperson issued a statement to Emirates 24|7 confirming the incident, saying: “Emirates confirms that on April 9, 2014 an incident occurred wherein a passenger arriving on flight EK526 to Hyderabad was detained by [Indian] Customs for carrying an undeclared quantity of gold in their baggage. Emirates has extended its cooperation to Customs authorities investigating the matter.”

Meanwhile, an April 13 SpiceJet flight, taking off for Cochin International Airport in Kerala was searched by Indian customs officials, following a tip off, where 2.2kg of gold was discovered concealed in a passenger seat.

Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet also confirmed the incident, with a spokesperson saying: “Our alert staff found the gold, and SpiceJet staff informed Customs to take over. We have already sounded out the Assistant Collector Customs at Cochin International Airport, who is in agreement.”

Indian newspaper Times of India has further stated the smuggler who had given 13kg gold to the off-duty flight stewardess was arrested and deported to Hyderabad.

Identified as Shujat Ali, the paper states he is currently being grilled about the gold smuggling network in India, which pays off airline staff across various carriers to bring in gold from the Gulf.

Meanwhile, The Hindu reported that the SpiceJet flight search unearthed a gold chain, gold bangles and cut pieces of gold bars, concealed in a plastic packet.

The Customs official further stated one person carried the gold to Kochi and kept it under the cushion cover of a seat.

The location of the seat would be then passed on to another person who was scheduled to take the same flight during its next leg to Chennai and remove the gold from under the seat.

Gold smuggling from the Gulf to India has been on the rise of late, with reportedly a similar incident on April 9 at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad where a Qatar Airways passenger travelling from Doha was arrested when she was discovered hiding 2.7kgs of gold among her clothes.

The free allowance for gold jewellery for passengers travelling to India is gold worth Rs50,000 for males and worth Rs100,000 for females, which at today’s gold rates would amount to less than 20 grams for men and less than 40 grams for women.

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