Gold dust from Tanzania lands in customs net
12 May 2009, 0003 hrs IST, TNN
Bangalore: Customs sleuths on Monday seized 2.786 kg of at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA); the gold was smuggled from Tanzania. Kirit Singh from Ahmendabad and Mohammed Alla Baksh from Bangalore, who arrived from Dubai in an Emirates flight, have been arrested.
According to sources, Baksh ran a gold-polishing business in Bangalore. The gold brought by the duo was in `dust' form. After treating under heat, they would get over 85% pure gold.
The two left India for Africa on April 16. Although they claimed the gold was purchased from a mine in Ghana, the bills are from. They did not have relevant documents for bringing the gold dust to India.
This was the third trip the two had made to African countries. They claimed their earlier visits were for `negotiations' and this was the first time they had brought gold. Later, they said they carried cash to Tanzania through which they purchased gold.
Carrying the gold dust, they went to Dubai on May 5 and stayed there for four to five days before finally flying to Bangalore.
Customs sleuths suspect a cartel of goldsmiths may be behind the purchase of gold dust. "They may have pooled in money and sent the two for purchasing the item," a customs official said. "We're investigating how they carried large amount of cash from," the official added.