A visually impaired man was held at Kempegowda International Airport for allegedly smuggling gold worth ₹3.44 crore from Dubai, customs officials told news agency PTI on Saturday.
The arrest of the unidentified individual was made on March 4, a day after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence held Kannada actress Ranya Rao at Bengaluru airport for smuggling gold.
Customs officials stated that they had acted on a tip-off and intercepted the passenger when he arrived from Dubai.
In a post on X, they revealed, “Upon inspection, 3,995.22 grams of gold worth ₹3,44,38,796, concealed under his shirt, was seized, and a smuggling case was registered.”
On March 3, Ranya Rao was held at the Bengaluru airport for allegedly smuggling 17 gold bars worth around ₹12.56 crores, from Dubai to India, concealed on her body.
The case marks one of the largest contraband seizures at the Bengaluru airport in recent years. Rao was taken into custody and presented before a court who remanded her to judicial custody and granted the DRI three days to interrogate the accused.
Rao had made 27 trips to Dubai in the course of six months. Investigators also suspected that Ranya Rao was involved in a smuggling network, allegedly earning ₹4-5 lakh for each kilogram of gold she smuggled.
Following Ranya Rao's arrest, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport has introduced stricter security protocols, particularly for individuals with influential backgrounds as it is believed that Rao used her stepfather's position as DGP to gain VIP access in airports allowing her to bypass regular security checks.
The Karnataka government has now decided that protocol privileges will be granted only to senior bureaucrats and will no longer extend to their family members or acquaintances.
Source: Hindustan Times
