Four, including cricketer, arrested for smuggling gold at Delhi airport
What's the story
Four members of a family, including Canadian cricketer Mamik Luthra, were arrested at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Saturday for allegedly trying to smuggle gold into the country. Reportedly, the market value of the gold, weighing 5.2kg, found under their possession is Rs. 1.7 crore. 22-year-old Mamik, an all-rounder, was part of Canada's Under-19 World Cup squad in 2016. Here's what happened.
Incident
Accused crossed green channel, were stopped by customs officer shortly
Mamik, along with his parents and an aunt, landed at IGI Aiport's Terminal 3 from Bangkok. They successfully crossed the green channel during clearance. However, customs officers stopped them shortly. As per a customs officer, the X-Ray scanner found "something suspicious" in their luggage. After a manual search, five gold bars of 1kg each and a "cut piece of 218 gms" were discovered.
Probe
Father confessed to sneaking in gold illegally earlier too
Following this, the four accused were detained for further questioning and investigation. During the initial questioning, Mamik's father Rakesh Luthra confessed to smuggling gold earlier as well. According to the officer, Rakesh and his wife had slipped in gold worth Rs. 1.72 crore illegally earlier too. Joint Commissioner of Customs at IGI Airport, Anubha Sinha, confirmed that all the four accused were arrested.
Details
Magistrate rejected bail, all sent to judicial custody
Later, the accused were produced in front of a magistrate who rejected their bail plea and all four are now under judicial custody. Moreover, Sinha also informed that the gold recovered from them has been seized. Notably, the accused's family owns a jewellery store in Punjab's Ludhiana. While Mamik's parents and aunt are Indian citizens and hold Indian passports, he has Canadian citizenship.
Explained
What exactly is the green channel at airports?
For making the clearance process of arriving passengers smooth, there are two types of clearance channels: 1-Green: For passengers not carrying any dutiable goods 2-Red: For passengers carrying dutiable goods The passengers must ensure that they have filed correct declaration form as per the items they are carrying. Necessary action will be taken against the passenger carrying dutiable goods via the green channel.