Hyderabad: A 45-year-old NRI from the city was arrested by customs sleuths on Tuesday for trying to smuggle in 551 grams of gold through the RGI airport.
The software engineer arrived in the city from Riyadh in a Saudi Airlines flight at 10 am. At the customs checkpoint, sleuths found 24 gold biscuits weighing 551 grams, hidden inside the hand baggage of the NRI.
“The NRI arrived here with his wife and three children. They had a lot of luggage and the gold was wrapped in carbon paper and concealed beneath clothes in a handbag,” a customs official said.
The market value of the seized gold is Rs 17 lakh and the customs duty on it could be Rs 1.7 lakh. After the seizure, cases were booked against the NRI under various sections of the Customs Act. He was produced before court and released on bail. Customs officials said the engineer would now have to pay about Rs three lakh as duty plus fine.
Source: TOI
