Gold bars worth Rs 12 lakh confiscated at airport

The security team of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Kolkata apprehended two persons on late Monday night, on charges of smuggling gold biscuits. Police said that the accused were trying to sneak past the security system with the gold biscuits secured in the hidden compartment of their briefcases.

The bars, valued at Rs 12 lakh, were smuggled from Bangkok to Kolkata via Bhutan. The accused were grilled by the investigators for several hours. On Tuesday, the two were produced before the Barackpore additional Chief Judicial Magistrate. “We are trying to find that whether those two smugglers have any connection with smugglers caught in Sealdah station on Monday,” said an investigating officer.

According to a source at the airport, Bhutan Airlines flight B3701 had landed at Kolkata airport on Monday, in which the two accused were passengers. The security personnel were alarmed by their behaviour on arrival and they were asked to pass their baggage through the scanner. Gold bars weighing around 380 gram were recovered from their baggage.

“The price of gold in Kolkata is much higher than in Bangkok. The airline fare from Bangkok to Kolkata is not high either. The smugglers took this chance to smuggle gold bars into the city,” said the investigating officer.

One accused is a resident of Kolkata, while the other is from Bihar. “They are actually middlemen who smuggle gold bars for businessmen in Kolkata. We are conducting raids to nab the kingpin. We were informed that some businessman in Burrabazar had asked for this consignment as he would send them to Gujarat,” said the officer.