113 passengers booked on Muscat-Chennai flight as mass smuggling bid foiled

MUSCAT: In a unique modus operandi, more than 100 passengers onboard a flight from Oman to the southern Indian city of Chennai were detained on charges of smuggling large amounts of gold, iPhones, laptops by the Chennai Customs on Friday.

According to various Indian news online reports, 113 passengers on a flight from Muscat to Chennai were involved in the mass smuggling plan that was busted by alert customs officials.

The incident came to light after one of the passengers spilled the beans while he was being interrogated by the customs officers.

According to a report, when the flight arrived at the airport on Thursday morning, Customs officials detained about 130 passengers on suspicion of carrying smuggled goods.

The passengers were found to have expensive gadgets like new iPhones and Google phones with 113 out 186 passengers who arrived on Thursday.

The investigation revealed that a man used his fellow passengers as carriers to smuggle the expensive items.

When all the passengers were detained and enquired, one of the passengers accepted that the phone was handed over to them by a co-passenger on the flight, promising commission, chocolates, and goodies upon return of the phone in Chennai airport.

Chennai airport customs officials had received a tip-off that more than a hundred passengers were smuggling a large amount of gold, iPhones, laptops, and saffron in the flight that arrived at the Chennai airport from Muscat.

The report said that since it was not clear who among them was involved in the smuggling racket, all the passengers were stopped and interrogated for hours. Out of which, it was confirmed that 73 people were not involved in the smuggling affairs.

Following this, the police searched the other 113 passengers. It was revealed that they were hiding gold nuggets and gold bracelets inside their underwear. On checking their suitcases and bags, there were many secret compartments in which 13 kg of gold, 120 iPhones, 84 Android phones, foreign cigarettes, and laptops were hidden.

The total value of the confiscated items is over INR14 crores (OMR 647,697). Subsequently, the customs officials have booked cases against 113 persons under the Customs Act and released them on bail.

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