Woman held at airport for smuggling more than 2 kg of gold

The woman, identified as Arati Anil Arya had arrived in the city from Bangkok on Monday night. She had hidden the gold biscuits in her bag and dress, said sources in the air intelligence team of the customs department.

According to sources, the accused had been carrying altogether 9 gold biscuits. When she was crossing the green channel inside the city airport, air intelligence officials of the customs suspected that she might have been carrying some items inside her dress.

They intercepted the woman and carried out a search. Gold biscuits were found inside her bag and dress.

According to preliminary investigation, senior customs officials suspect that the woman was travelling frequently to Bangkok either from the city and or any other cities. The accused has been booked under section 110 of Customs Act. The accused was later handed over to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport police station.

Police are trying to know the whereabouts of the woman and suspecting that the woman is a part of an international gold smuggling racket. They are interrogating the accused to know the names of others

involved in the racket.

According to a senior police officer of Bidhannagar Commissionarate, the gold biscuits seized from the woman weighed around 2 kg 535 grams, the price of which was around Rs 79 lakh in the international market. The seized gold biscuits have been sent to the lab for further examination.

It may be mentioned that there were few instances in past few months where people were caught smuggling gold into the city from Bangkok. According to the customs officials, the price of gold in the city is much higher than that of in Bangkok and hence, there were repeated attempts by the smuggler to smuggle gold biscuits into the city.