DRI wants life-term for smugglers concealing gold inside aircraft panels

SMUGGLERS resorting to concealing gold inside panels of aircraft should be booked under the stringent Civil Aviation Act which gives a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said in a recent instruction to all its zones and Customs formations across the country.

- SIDDHARTH PRABHAKAR

Sources said this was prompted by a few instances where gold smuggling syndicates managed to hide gold bars inside panels of the aircraft, especially inside toilets, which were meant to be retrieved by colluding airline staff, passengers or others.

The modus operandi was detected by the customs officials at Chennai International Airport in March this year and in a few other cases at airports in Kerala on flights which came from Gulf countries.

In addition to financial security implications, such tampering of aircraft panels is risky to flight operations, sources said quotin the DRI communication.