Customs officials on Wednesday arrested a passenger after recovering saffron worth several lakhs from his person. Officials said that the accused was a carrier who was offered some money and a free ticket in Dubai, and was asked to hand over the parcel to someone at the Mumbai airport.
Menathil Abdullah Bakar landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from Dubai by Jet Airways flight number 9W543 at around 3.15 am on Wednesday. Customs officials intercepted Bakar when he tried to pass through the green channel claiming that he had nothing to declare.
“Our officials stopped him and checked his bag and found saffron worth around `6 lakhs. Bakar, who is originally from Kasargad in Kerala, has been arrested for smuggling saffron,” said additional commissioner (Air Intelligence Unit), Mahinder Pal.
Mr Pal said that Bakar was an unskilled labourer who had been working in Dubai for some time.
“The modus operandi adopted by smugglers these days is that they target such labourers as possible carriers. They offer them a free ticket to India along with some money. These carriers are not given any details about the person who hands them the items at foreign airports, nor are they given the names or description of the person they are supposed to handover the goods in India. They are only given a phone number, on which they are supposed to contact the person after landing in India,” Mr Pal explained.
Another official said that they have recovered the phone number of the person whom Bakar was supposed to call. “Officials are now trying to track down the person to whom the number belongs. However, as of now Bakar does not even know the name of the person he had to contact,” he said.
Meanwhile, in another incident at the international airport on Wednesday, an undeclared Rolex watch worth `4.41 lakhs was found with a passenger who came down from London. “Yatin Jethani had arrived from Emirates flight EK 500 at 3.15 am from London. Customs officials too intercepted Yatin after he claimed that he had nothing to declare. A Rolex watch was found on his person, following which he was fined and penalised before letting him go. Passengers carrying undeclared goods below `5 lakhs are not arrested but are instead fined and let off,” said the officer.