Air Intelligence Unit at Chennai airport beefed up
Gold smuggling cases using various ways has increased in the Chennai airport. Recently, the officials found that at least 267 kg of gold were smuggled into Chennai from foreign countries in two months.
Chennai Airport
CHENNAI: After repeated incidents of gold smuggling through Chennai International Airport, some of them with the help of staff at the shops inside the terminal, the Customs Department has enhanced the strength of its Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) to strengthen the preventive measures against gold and narcotics smuggling.
In recent times, gold smuggling cases using various ways has increased in the Chennai airport. Recently, the officials found that at least 267 kg of gold were smuggled into Chennai from foreign countries in two months. In all these cases, the smugglers managed to bypass the Customs check and take the gold outside the airport with the help of staff at the duty-free shops.
Though the central government ordered a thorough investigation into the cases, neither the Customs nor DRI could recover the gold smuggled using this modus operandi.
Now, strengthening the force to prevent smuggling, the number of personnel in the Air Intelligence Unit has been increased. As part of this, two more Deputy Commissioners and an Assistant Commissioner have been added to the AIU in Chennai airport.
The AIU will be in plainclothes inside the airport, where they will monitor the passengers who arrive from foreign countries.
Additionally, the Customs Department has also decided to deploy sniffer dogs to detect narcotic smuggling, which has seen a surge in recent times. A woman officer will lead the sniffer dog squad, sources said.
