It has been found that 267 kg of gold worth Rs 167 crore was smuggled in 2 months by a gang of 8 people through a rented souvenir shop at the departure terminal at Chennai airport.
Customs officials arrested nine people, including YouTuber Sabir Ali, who owns a souvenir shop, and two passengers.
The Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department interrogated the employee of the souvenir shop on suspicion. He was then found to have 1 kg of gold in the form of powder. After receiving gold from a traveler, the shopkeeper hid it in his rectum. Both were arrested by the authorities.
In this regard, R Srinivasa Naik, Chief Commissioner of Chennai Airport Customs, said in a statement;
“Sabir Ali rented the shop two months ago by paying a huge amount to Airport Authority (AAI)’s third-party company, Vidveda PRG. He set up a souvenir shop at the front and hired seven youths to manage the shop.
The employees were used to stash smuggled gold handed over to them by passengers bound for Sri Lanka. The gold is exchanged in toilets and handed over to smugglers outside the airport. Store employees carry identification cards issued by Civil Aviation Security, so they are often not searched.
Based on the statements of the arrestees and their phone conversations, the customs department has confirmed that the gang smuggled 267 kg of gold worth Rs 167 crore in two months. It has come to light that the gold was smuggled from Gulf countries and Singapore.
A gang of gold smugglers based in Chennai, Sri Lanka and abroad may have got together and financed Sabir Ali to rent a shop inside the airport.
Employees are trained to hide the gold in powder form in their rectums to avoid being caught in the scanner. Sabir Ali, seven of his employees and nine others, including the passenger, have been remanded in judicial custody. Further investigation is underway to identify the behind-the-scenes operatives.
