Another real-life case of a suspect at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi shows how attentive and watchful flight crews as well as security officers are. A man who was on a flight arriving from a foreign country was arrested after he attempted to bring in prohibited merchandise into the country.
A passenger with no other identification but the ticket number 2420 on flight number AI 992 from Jeddah quantitatively acted inapropriately by declining repeated offers of food and beverages from the flight stewardess throughout the five and half hour journey. This caused some suspicions, and the flight attendant reported him to the flight captain who upon confirming it, contacted the security agencies through the Air Traffic Control.
Immigration officials quickly followed the passenger as soon as he got into the airport and tried to cross the Green Customs Clearance Channel. He was arrested for questioning and later confessed to hiding the materials of significant worth on him. Counseled the amount and troy weight of gold in the four oval capsules, found to contain gold paste totaling about 1096gm. 76 grams, inclusive of ₹69 lakh.
Further, Joint Commissioner (Customs), Monika Yadav said that with the permission to search for the gold, it had been recovered and the passenger was arrested under the sections of the Customs Act. An inquiry into the matter has been conducted; the air hostesses/stewards are advised on possible body-borne explosives and are urged to report any passenger who refuses all food and drinks on long haul flights.
This incident is not new as similar case of gold smuggling syndicate was found ran through a souvenir shop at Chennai airport. The owner of the shop was a YouTuber and he was arrested with accomplices over smuggling gold to country for 2 months through which a total of 267 kg gold worth ₹167 crores were smuggled.
That is why it is significant to underline the role of combined efforts of the flight crew, security staff, and customs to notice and stop such unlawful attempts. The episode also demonstrates that more attention should be paid to prevent the smuggling attempts in the future.
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