Customs busts ring: 200 new phones, 13kg gold seized at Chennai airport

CHENNAI: Customs officials at Chennai airport smelled a rat when they noticed that almost all passengers who landed by an Oman Air flight on Thursday morning were carrying new Apple and Google phones.
All 186 passengers were made to wait in the arrival lounge for interrogation. The answers to their queries startled the customs officials. Some passengers told officials they were handed the phones by a co-passenger after they boarded the flight.They were promised perfumes and chocolates when they returned the phones outside the airport. The couriers, who handed over the phones to genuine passengers, were identified and their bags were thoroughly checked.
That’s when officials found huge quantities of gold tucked inside the bags. DRI sleuths also joined the investigation. During the joint operation officials seized 13kg of gold (biscuits and paste) worth ₹7 crore, nearly 200 new mobile phones, including iPhones and Google phones worth ₹3.5 crore, besides cigarettes, refurbished laptops, and saffron worth ₹3.5 crores.
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the detainees were instructed to pay 37% duty for each phone as well as a penalty of ₹5,000. “The duty and the penalty are to basically nullify the profit they see by smuggling the phones,” said the official. Passengers who helped the couriers were let off after they gave a written undertaking. The officials detained 113 people for further inquiries.
This is the first time, so many people have been caught from a single flight for smuggling goods. Customs officials are investigating how so many smugglers boarded the same flight with goods worth ₹14 crore. They are also probing whether there was any involvement of personnel engaged by various agencies in the airport in the incident.