Mumbai: In two separate cases, customs officials arrested four persons, including a CISF official and an Iranian business entrepreneur, for smuggling gold worth Rs 4.5 crore from Dubai.The air intelligence unit (AIU) of the customs department detained one Ansari Hassan, who was moving around suspiciously in the parking lot outside Mumbai airport, on May 8.His search resulted in the recovery of 630gm of gold worth Rs 57 lakh wrapped in tape.
He said he had received it from CISF official Akhil Dhale. Dhale said he had brought the gold outside the airport by stuffing it into his socks and that he had done this earlier, too. The AIU also intercepted Iranian national Melika Razini (28), who arrived from Dubai and walked through the green channel without declaring anything.
She was detained on suspicion and an inspection resulted in recovery of a transparent pouch containing a yellow-coloured metal tied around her waist belt. Experts found the substance was 24-karat gold weighing 3.6kg and worth Rs 3.3 crore. Razini, who is a shoe manufacturer back home, said she had bought the gold in Dubai and wanted to sell it in India.
