Hyderabad, Oct 19 (IANS) In one of the biggest seizures at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Customs officials on Tuesday recovered 6.06 kg gold from a passenger who arrived from Dubai.
Two gold bars, of 3 kg each, of 24 carat purity, and worth Rs 2.96 crore, were concealed in two rechargeable lights.
The officials, who searched the baggage of a passenger arriving from Dubai by flight EK 524, found the two emergency lights. On suspicion, they opened the lights and found the bars kept inside the rechargeable batteries.
The Customs officials seized the gold and filed a case of smuggling against the passenger. Further investigations are on, an official said.
The airport has been witnessing a series of gold seizures. Those resorting to gold smuggling are adopting innovative ways to conceal the contraband.
On October 8, 528.2 grams of gold and 28 grams of silver valued at Rs 20.44 lakh was seized from a passenger who arrived from Doha. He had concealed the gold and silver in the face cream boxes in checked-in baggage.
On October 5, Customs officials seized over 1,200 grams of gold in paste form valued at Rs 58.16 lakh from a female Sudanese passenger who arrived via Dubai.
According to officials, the gold was concealed in the undergarments and hand baggage.
A day earlier, customs officials detected and seized 604.82 grams of gold valued at Rs 29.02 lakh in three separate cases.
In two of these cases, the gold was concealed in undergarments of the passengers while a third passenger had concealed it inside check-in baggage.
In a statement here, he said the worst has started coming true as the Taliban have started showing their true colours by way of complete intolerance towards the minorities leading to their intimidation and destruction of their religious places.
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other leaders met the family of deceased farmer Lovepreet at the Chaukhada farm in Palia at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. They later met the family of journalist Raman Kashyap, who was also killed in violence.
9 persons, including four farmers, were killed in the violence that had erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will hear the matter on Thursday. The matter has been listed as 'violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of life'.
Canadian MP Tim S. Uppal said he was shocked to learn about the brazen attack on protesting farmers. Another Canadian MP Ruby Sahota said she was heartbroken to learn about the violence directed at protesting farmers.
The demand made by citizens primarily mirrored their right to clean air and the right to breathe, underlining the reality that Punjab is home to some of India's most polluted towns, including Mandi Gobindgarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, and Patiala.
The case was assigned to the division bench of Justices A.G. Masih and Ashok Kumar Verma. Earlier, the case was being heard by the bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Ajay Tewari but the latter recused himself from hearing the case on September 1.
