India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested six people, including three Bangladeshis, on charges of smuggling 7 kilograms of gold worth roughly 110 million rupees through Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Among those arrested is a Vietnam Airlines employee. The DRI said that, acting on tip-off intelligence, they had been keeping watch on a Vietnam Airlines employee named Munaf Mashraf Jamadar, 23. He was accused of delivering smuggled gold to a person outside the airport. Reports say the search found seven egg-shaped capsules of gold powder concealed in wax, recovered from him.
During questioning, Munaf said he was supposed to deliver the gold to a person outside the airport, in exchange for a financial reward.
Based on information Munaf provided, the five passengers who had supplied him the gold were later identified. The DRI said three of them are Bangladeshi nationals: Mohammad Abu Nasr, Mohammad Alam and Mohammad Najimuddin. Two more people, Mohammad Mohiuddin and Mohammad Hossain, were also arrested.
In total, the operation recovered roughly 7 kilograms of gold in 16 ball-shaped packets, worth roughly 110 million rupees. The arrested individuals’ lawyers, Birendra Singh and Aftab Qureshi, argued in court that their clients were innocent and had become involved in the incident because of poverty. The court later ordered all six accused sent to judicial custody.