10 Sri Lankans arrested from B'luru airport for smuggling gold
Darpan News Desk IANS, 22 Nov, 2021 12:32 PM
Bengaluru, Nov 22 (IANS) The Customs Department has arrested two Sri Lankan men and eight women at the airport here for smuggling gold hidden in their bodies, officials said on Monday.
Based on a tip-off, the Customs officers made the arrests on Saturday evening.
The accused travelled from the Bandaranaike International Airport located in the outskirts of Colombo onboard SriLankan Airlines Flight UL 171 along with 140 other passengers.
They had concealed the liquid gold in their rectum and was supposed to be given to handlers in Bengaluru.
The group was stopped by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Bengaluru Customs Department while they were on their way to the immigration bay.
After thorough examination, the officers found that the 10 accused had hidden the gold in paste form which is worth over Rs 1 crore in their bodies.
The sleuths are conducting further investigations to identify the Bengaluru handlers.
The accused will be further interrogated to ascertain the source and nab the whole gold smuggling gang.
The incident took place on Tuesday during a demonstration by the BJP in front of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's official residence over the Delhi Disaster Management Authority's (DDMA) order restricting celebration of Chhath Puja in the national capital.
The minister and his son are accused in the October 3 incident in which nine persons, including four farmers, were mowed down by SUVs. The minister's son Ashish Mishra has already been arrested.
It's likely that Sidhu will put forth the list of demands in the Punjab government as he is upset with the appointments in the government. He has resigned from the post of state president, but it has not been accepted yet by Sonia Gandhi. The meeting gains significance as it comes ahead of the CWC meeting.
The civil secretariat houses the top offices of the government, including those of the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and his advisors. Police tried to intervene to restrain the mourners from carrying out the sit-in outside the civil secretariat.
"My son will go to the police tomorrow and assist the probe. He has not escaped anywhere," Mishra said on his arrival in Lucknow. He said that his son was very much in their house in Lakhimpur.
Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday proceeded on indefinite fast in support of his demand for action against Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and main accused in Sunday's violence in which nine persons, including four farmers, were killed.
