City Tailor Found to be Kingpin Behind Gold Smuggling Racket

A city-based tailor has turned out to be the main operator as well as chief trainer for many men and women who smuggle gold from other countries into the city through the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA). Interestingly, it is mostly women who have been trained to do the job. Highly placed sources told Express that the key operator has been identified as Arzzu Bhai, a tailor in Barkas of the Old City area. With gold smuggling cases at the RGIA rising, the Customs and Central Excise officials had formed special teams and took up thorough investigation. During the course of their probe, the officials recently questioned more than eight passengers after detaining them for possession of large quantities of gold. They reportedly spilled the beans about Arzzu Bhai. In the guise of tailoring, Arzzu has trained more than 60 persons to smuggle gold into RGIA from Dubai, Sharjah, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries. He also offered them huge incentives and commissions. Based on the confession statements of the detained passengers, a special team of excise and customs officials conducted raids on Arzzu’s residence in Barkas. He, however, was alerted by his associates and managed to give the police a slip. “Though Arzzu Bhai escaped, we found a diary, some books and a laptop in which he had stored important data of Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia-based jewellery shops, businessmen and some notorious smuggling gangs. We also found names of some local businessmen,” customs officials who are closely associated with the investigation told Express. Officials, however, refused to reveal the names of the local businessmen. Officials also discovered that Arzzu imparted training via power-point presentations on a small screen with a projector. The detained passengers disclosed that they were offered a commission of `5 lakh per kg of gold smuggled into the city and other parts of the country. Arrzu chooses illiterate persons and trains them in the methods of carrying gold without being detected during security checks by hiding it in safe places and even argue with officials if detained. According to officials, an Indian passenger who has been living abroad for over a year is allowed to bring jewellery in his bonafide luggage free of duty. The limit is `50,000 worth of gold for males and `1 lakh for females.

By Moule Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com