PANJIM: In a first major gold seizure since its commissioning in December last year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Goa Regional Unit seized seven-kg gold paste and 28 iphones all worth Rs 3.92 crore from three passengers, who arrived from Abu Dhabi at the Manohar International Airport, Mopa-Pernem on Saturday.
According to a statement from the DRI, on the basis of specific intelligence, the officers of DRI Goa intercepted three male passengers who arrived from Indigo flight 6E 1506 from Abu Dhabi to the Mopa Airport on October 21, and seized gold paste compound form of seven-kg (estimated quantity post retrieval of 5.7 kg) and 28 iPhones 15 Pro from them.
The iPhones were wrapped in packets placed in the checked-in baggage while the gold paste was concealed in the waistband of a passenger and stitched as inner layers of clothes of two passengers.
All the three accused identified as Irfan (30) from Uttar Pradesh, Kamran Ahmed Gayasuddin Khan (38) from Mumbai and Mohammed Irfan Ghulam Nabi alias Bala Patel (38) from Gujarat were arrested under relevant provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.
As per the DRI, the accused were part of a gold smuggling syndicate operating between Mumbai and Dubai. They had travelled from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi on October 12 and arrived with the smuggled goods on Saturday late night.
Further investigation is in progress, the DRI stated.