New Delhi, May 6 (PTI) An employee of Delhi Duty Free shop was among six people arrested by the customs officials for allegedly smuggling gold worth about Rs 60 lakh at the airport here.
Customs officials Monday said the smugglers, including the employee of Delhi duty free shop inside the airport, were following a modus operandi based on use of “codeword” with each other.
The six were held in separate incidents on Sunday.
Giving details of the cases, the officials said two persons were intercepted after their arrival from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.
During enquiry, the duo admitted to carrying 350 grams of gold which was handed over to the duty free shop employee inside a washroom of the airport.
Neither the carrier of the gold nor the duty free shop employee knew each other. They were given a codeword — a pass phrase — on the day of delivery of gold by their handlers, the officials said.
Based on the admission, the customs officials caught the said employee who also confessed to be part of the smuggling ring.
On further enquiry, the employee said he was to give the gold to two other persons waiting for him outside the airport.
The customs officials then asked him (Delhi duty free shop’s worker) to go out and approach the two receivers of the gold without informing them about the trap.
However, the receivers got suspicious when the employee reached them to hand over the gold and sped up the car they were waiting in.
Customs inspector Amit Khatri, who was following the employee, pounced upon the speeding car and managed to get in.
The two smugglers hit Khatri and tried to push him out of the car, the officials said.
But he managed to overpower the duo and got the car stopped. Soon some more customs officials arrived at the spot and arrested the two receivers of the gold along with the duty free shop employee, the officials said.
Based on their confession, another man was intercepted after his arrival from Bahrain.
He was found to be carrying 1.4 kg of gold which was to be handed over to the employee of Delhi duty free shop, the customs officials said.
In total, six people, including the employee of the duty free shop, were arrested and gold weighing two kilograms, assessed to be valued around Rs 60 lakh was seized, they said.
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