DRI busts a racket of smuggling of foreign currency through the glass door that separates domestic terminal from the international at Kolkata airport
In a shocking revelation, officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a smuggling racket operating at the Kolkata airport through the glass door that separates domestic and international terminal.
On Monday, two members of the gang entered the domestic terminal of the NSCBI airport, Kolkata with foreign currency concealed within the shoe soles and managed to get through the security check. The two were to take a domestic flight hence were waiting in the domestic departures area.
The third member of the gang later checked into the Kolkata airport to depart on the Bangkok-bound flight. He cleared the immigration and customs and waited at the international departures area.
A glass door separates the domestic terminal from the international terminal which remains closed at all times with the help of a chain and a lock. However, the gang took advantage of the gap of the glass door and tried to smuggle the foreign currency notes.
All three met at the glass door and the duo handed over the package containing the foreign currency. As soon as the third member of the gang proceeded to board the flight he was stopped by DRI officials and immediately detained.
Later, it was found that the duo missed their flight intentionally and wanted to leave the airport.
“We saw in the CCTV that the duo handed over the package through the gap of the door. We found it extremely suspicious and detained the international passenger. We found the foreign currency in his possession. Later, we tracked the movements of the duo and found that they missed their flight intentionally and arrested all three,” said a DRI official.
He further added, “The three persons arrested have been identified as - Ziaul Mustafa who was scheduled to fly to Bangkok and Sheikh Masiruddin and Md Akhtar Moeni – the duo who were to take the domestic flights and missed it intentionally. A total of 80,000 US Dollars have been seized. The worth of the seizure in Indian currency is Rs. 57 lacs.”
On further interrogation by the DRI officials, the trio revealed that they have used the same modus operandi to smuggle foreign currency through the glass door gap.
This incident reveals how the gap of the glass door was being used by organised gangs to smuggle out currency and other things without being caught. Customs, CISF are among other agencies that look after not just the security of the airport but also prevent other crimes, however this was the first time that this modus operandi surfaced.
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