An unusual turn of events triggered by rain helped customs officials uncover a gold smuggling attempt involving over 2 kg of gold on a Singapore–Chennai flight earlier this week.
According to officials, an Air India flight from Singapore scheduled to land in Chennai on April 6 at 11.25 a.m. was diverted to Bengaluru due to sudden rainfall. The flight later reached Chennai at around 3.40 p.m.
During routine cleaning of the aircraft after its delayed arrival, customs officials discovered 18 gold bars weighing about 2.2 kg, valued at approximately Rs. 3.25 crore, hidden inside the plane. The gold was immediately seized.
Investigations revealed that the gold was not meant to be smuggled into Chennai directly. Instead, officials suspect a planned transit smuggling method. As per the modus operandi, a carrier from Singapore would conceal the gold inside the aircraft and disembark at Chennai after routine customs checks.
Subsequently, another individual boarding the same aircraft from Chennai for its onward journey to Mumbai would retrieve the concealed gold and carry it without undergoing international customs scrutiny, thereby evading detection.
However, the rain-induced diversion disrupted this plan. A replacement flight had already departed from Chennai to Mumbai, preventing the intended transfer. Officials said that if the original plan had proceeded without disruption, the gold might have reached the smugglers undetected.
Customs authorities are continuing investigations to identify those involved in the smuggling attempt and to probe the network behind the operation.
