Two held at Delhi airport for smuggling gold worth about Rs 58 lakh: Customs

New Delhi: Two men -- a Thai national and an AISATS staffer -- have been arrested for allegedly smuggling gold into India valuing about Rs 58 lakh at the international airport here, a customs official said on Tuesday.

AISATS, an airport services provider, is a 50-50 joint venture between Air India Limited (a part of the TATA group) and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).

A case of smuggling was registered on June 12 against the Thailand national, who had arrived here from Dubai, he said.

The accused passenger planned to go back to Bangkok on the same day, the officer said.
During investigation, it emerged that he smuggled the gold in paste form by handing it over to an airline staff, who further acted clandestinely to take it outside the airport without declaring it to the customs and with the intention to evading payment of customs duty, according to a statement issued on Monday by the customs department.

A total of 1.12 kg of gold, valued at Rs 57.65 lakh, has been obtained from the gold paste, it said.
The gold was seized and both the accused were arrested, the statement said.
A senior customs officer said the accused worker is employed with AISATS as its customer service junior assistant. The employee was allotted to "Vistara airline pool", he said.

The official said the customs department has written to AISATS about the involvement of its staffer in the gold smuggling case. (PTI)