Mumbai Customs officer held for helping flier smuggle 1kg of gold

A customs officer was detained for allegedly assisting a Kalina resident to smuggle a kg of gold into the country at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday.

According to the officials from the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), the passenger, Nilotpal Mrinal, who had flown in from Dubai was asked to reveal the contents of his bag after an X-ray scan was found to be suspicious.Mrinal, 33, however, was allowed to pass through after a D-batch customs official said that senior officials had given the clearances.

However, an AIU officer stopped Mrinal, searched him and seized gold worth Rs28.6 lakh, apart from other illegal goods. The customs department said the passenger and the official were both detained and are being questioned

“The screening attendant asked the passenger to open the bag, but the accused officer insisted that he had got a call from a senior official telling him to allow the passenger to leave,” an officer explained, “An AIU officer continued with his checking and found gold and some other illegal materials in his bag.”

The passenger was carrying four iPads, two laptops, five Apple watches, three Samsung gear watches, two packets of platinum glutamine — a steroid used for body building, 20 Mont Blanc resin pens, 28 iPhone 8 plus, four cartons of Dunhill cigarettes and 25 bottles of Davidoff perfume in the bag, worth around Rs30 lakh. The passenger also had two gold kada (bangles), one gold chain and five gold bars in his trouser pockets, totally weighing 1,050 grams.

Custom officials said Mrinal runs a cosmetics and perfume business in the city and has travelled at least 20 times to Dubai and China. According to a source, Mrinal’s offices have not been searched yet. Officers said that he had travelled to Dubai thrice this month and could have been assisted by the accused custom official to smuggle goods into the country.

While APS Suri, chief customs commissioner, zone III did not respond, Rama Mathews, commissioner of customs (Airport) said, “There was a seizure and the investigation is going on.”