Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur has been gaining a lot of attention these days. It is mainly due to the air traffic and smuggling activities. A report reveals that gold amounting to approximately Rs 5 crores had been seized by the Customs Department at the Airport in the last seven years. This is between the time period from 6th October, 2013 to 10th January, 2020.
The Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Air Customs Unit provided the information after an activist named Abhay Kolarkar posed a query under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. The response by the Deputy Commissioner Office revealed that two cases of gold seizure came up in the year 2013 and three cases of gold seizure came up in the year 2014. Only one case each of gold seizure was found in the years 2015 and 2016 followed by a cypher in the year 2017. The year 2018 and 2019 recorded seven and eight cases respectively.
The year 2020 recorded three such cases till 10 January, 2020. The cases of 2014 and 2015 are amongst the top three cases of gold seizure at Nagpur Airport, as reporrted. According to the information obtained, the ones smuggling the gold are carrying it in the same manner. Various other foods were also detained by the Air Customs Unit during the time span between 2013 and 2020. These goods were not just gold, but also daggers, liquor, old currency and foreign currency notes as well as cigarette packets. In some cases, laptops and mobile phones were also seized.
