Nagpur: Police in Nagpur suspect gold smuggling was going on through Nagpur Airport for the last one month. Gold was being bought at cheaper rates from Dubai and smuggled into India hidden inside stuff like electronic goods, mobile phones, hammers, and other gadgets. On Wednesday, police found 337 gram gold inside metallic hammers being brought by three passengers from the Gulf.
Ganeshpeth police, while investigating a case a few days back, came to know about gold smuggling from Dubai and Doha flights to Nagpur Airport. The police arrested three suspects as soon as Doha-Nagpur flight landed.
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Wed 18 Dec. 2024
According to a report in local Times of India daily, the international gold smuggling racket seemed to have left security and intelligence agencies engaged at the airport red-faced. The smugglers had started using Nagpur as a transit route instead of Delhi. The report said that Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar had alerted the airport authorities and security and intelligence agencies regarding the racket. The city police had busted the racket while investigating a robbery complaint.
According to the ToI report, the gold smugglers had shifted their base to Nagpur around a month ago. After no heed was paid to Kumar’s input during an internal security review meeting, the top cop swung into action. Cops seized 337 gram gold worth Rs 15 lakh from three racketeers, identified as Rahul Yadav, Akram Malik and Irshad Khan, all natives of Rajasthan. The gold was smuggled concealed in hammers, punching machines and other materials.
The report further said that the smugglers chose Nagpur as a transit route over Delhi due to their link with a senior official serving in the intelligence and security agencies engaged at airports. The official, earlier posted in Delhi, was recently transferred to Nagpur. The racketeers considered Nagpur as a low-risk route with a view that dodging security and screening at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport is easier than at other cities as only one international flight is operating from here.
A native of Rajasthan, who was probably involved in gold smuggling, had approached the Ganeshpeth police here this week stating he was robbed near Agyaram Devi Chowk. Following a tip-off, police nabbed the three racketeers from a place near the airport where they had received a gold consignment coming from Dubai via Sharjah-Nagpur flight. The trio was caught in the robbery case but certain facts about gold smuggling had come to light during their custodial interrogations.
