MUMBAI: An alleged international gold-and-diamond smuggling racket operating at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has been busted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), with investigators uncovering an alleged hand-off system involving airport ground staff and passengers arriving on international routes. In this latest incident, the DRI has arrested eight people, including an employee at a store inside the airport and foreign nationals, and seized gold worth Rs 12.64 crore and diamonds valued at Rs 1.10 crore.According to the DRI, the operation hinged on a simple but coordinated system — passengers allegedly carried smuggled gold concealed in their baggage and handed it over to an airport insider in the transit area, while diamonds were allegedly passed between passengers and the ground staff near a departure gate. The alleged operation first came under the DRI’s scanner after the agency received specific intelligence about Saquib Ansari, 27, an employee at Lite Bite Food Eatery at CSMIA.Investigators allegedly learned that Ansari was to receive diamonds from passenger Mohammed Balli, 24, who was scheduled to fly from Mumbai to Dubai. DRI officers intercepted the two near a departure-gate washroom. But investigators say the diamond hand-off was only one part of the operation. A search of Ansari allegedly led to the recovery of three egg-shaped capsules containing gold dust concealed in wax form. The DRI said Ansari subsequently disclosed that the capsules had been handed to him by a transit passenger and that five more passengers were expected to deliver similar consignments.The agency then allegedly turned the airport into a surveillance zone. According to the DRI, passengers allegedly arrived one-by-one with egg-shaped ‘gold capsules’ and approached him. The passengers arrested in the operation were identified as Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan nationals Shahadat Hossain, Mubarak Hossen, Mohammed Jual, Mohammed Uddin, Mohammed Abubakar and Mohammed Hasan, along with Ansari and Balli.The court subsequently remanded the accused to judicial custody.
