Four held at airport for bid to smuggle gold

CHENNAI: Four Karnataka-based men were nabbed at the Chennai airport for attempting to smuggle gold worth Rs 3 crore on Sunday.Based on specific information that gold was smuggled into Chennai from Dubai, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence informed customs officials at the airport and together, they were monitoring passengers over the past few days. At 3.30 am on Sunday, a flight belonging to a private airline landed in the city. While the officials were inspecting the passengers, their suspicion fell on three men -- Abdul Nasheed Allaudin (30), Mohammad Asif (38) and Mohammad Imran (25) of Bhatkal in Karnataka -- after checking their passports. They then took all the three, who had arrived from Dubai, to a separate room and frisked them. While inspecting their shoes, they found 16 small packets with gold biscuits and jewellery hidden in their socks. The gold weighed a total of 12.2 kg and was worth Rs 2.4 crore. Based on information gathered from the men, Amir Ahamed (30) was also arrested. He had arrived in a 9.30 am flight. The officials seized gold weighing three kg and 120 grams, worth Rs 60 lakh, that was concealed in his socks.Investigations are on to find out the whereabouts of those who passed on the gold to the accused and also the details of persons who were to receive the smuggled goods from them.