Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested three foreign nationals for allegedly attempting to smuggle over 12 kg of gold worth ₹18 crore by concealing it inside the washroom panels of an international flight arriving from Ethiopia.The three arrested have been identified as Ahmed Abdurahman, 24, Mohammed Abdurahman, 20, and Jemil Nuri Mohammed, 29, who are nationals of Ethiopia. The trio arrived in India from Addis Ababa on Thursday evening.The officials had intelligence that some passengers would either carry gold on their person or conceal it inside the aircraft with the assistance of cleaning staffers at the airport for its subsequent retrieval and illegal clearance.The officials intercepted the trio at the aerobridge shortly after the flight landed. While the accused denied carrying any gold or contraband, personal searches yielded nothing incriminating.However, searches of their cabin baggage led to the recovery of Allen keys from each of the three passengers. During sustained questioning, the accused allegedly admitted that the tools were meant to open aircraft panels and conceal the smuggled gold inside the rear washrooms of the aircraft for later retrieval by cleaning staff. Accused Jemil Nuri disclosed he received six gold bars in Addis Ababa and, after boarding the flight, handed three bars each to the other two accused with instructions to hide them in separate washrooms using the Allen keys. Ahmed Abdurahman and Abdulselam Abdurahman allegedly corroborated the statement and admitted concealing the gold in the left and right rear washrooms of the aircraft.Based on the disclosures, DRI officers escorted the accused back to the aircraft and recovered six yellow metal bars wrapped in brown adhesive tape from the two rear washrooms. A govt-approved valuer certified that the recovered bars were 24-carat gold weighing 12,004 grammes with a total market value of ₹18 crore. If the consignment was imported legally through the baggage route, customs duty of approximately ₹7.92 crore would have been payable, resulting in an alleged duty evasion of about ₹7.92 crore. Their advocate Ravi Hirani, defending them, told the customs court that his clients were unaware of the Indian laws. The court remanded them to judicial custody.
