Over a week, customs dept net a crore worth of goods

NEW DELHI, January 10: Gold biscuits valued at over Rs 17.5 lakh were recovered from a passenger at the Indira Gandhi International airpo...

NEW DELHI, January 10: Gold biscuits valued at over Rs 17.5 lakh were recovered from a passenger at the Indira Gandhi International airport (IGIA) early yesterday morning. Following a tip-off, preventive officers arrested Islamuddin, who arrived on Indian Airlines flight 882 from Sharjah. Islamuddin was carrying 33 gold biscuits, weighing 10 tolas each.

Islamuddin had gone to Sharjah on January 7 on passport P-536249. According to customs officials, the suspect was shadowed from the aerobridge to the immigration hall and into the toilet. Islamuddin apparently left a black packet, wrapped in insulating tape there. He was intercepted by customs officials at the exit gate and a roll of black insulating tape and adhesive sticker were recovered from his person.

Earlier in the week, 195 mobile phones were discovered in two black bags abandoned by the carrier. The bags were noticed in the transit lounge of the departure hall at the IGIA. When nobody came forward to claim the bags, they were examined and mobile phones worth Rs 23 lakh were recovered. The brands recovered include Sony, Motorola and Ericsson.

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In what seems to have been a busy week for customs officials, imported ball bearings worth Rs 63 lakh were also recovered. Following the surveillance of a godown in Motia Khan and a subsequent raid of the warehouse, 29,000 ball bearings were found.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the ball bearings were brought in from Mumbai and were mis-declared as rejected motor parts in the documents. The bearings were found in their original cartons which had been concealed inside gunny bags.

The three hauls were worth a crore and according to Commissioner of Customs (general) Vijay Zutshi, her department has already exceeded their anti-smuggling targets.