Google – AFP, 20 November 2013
Illustration.
Cleaners working on a Jet Airways plane in eastern India have found
24 gold
bars worth more than $1 million stuffed into a toilet compartment (AFP/File,
Raveendran)
|
Kolkata —
Cleaners working on a commercial plane in eastern India have found 24 gold bars
worth more than $1 million stuffed into a toilet compartment, officials said
Wednesday.
India,
which rivals China as the world's biggest gold consumer, has witnessed a spike
in smuggling after import duties were hiked three times this year to try to
dampen demand for the precious metal.
The plane
belonging to Jet Airways was being cleaned at Kolkata airport on Tuesday after
a trip from the eastern city of Patna. It had previously been flying on
international routes.
"The
cleaning staff of the airport were going though their routine duties and found
two bags in the toilets of the plane," director of the airport B.P. Mishra
told AFP.
The
one-kilogram gold bars "have not been claimed by anyone. No arrest has
been made as yet".
Senior
customs official R.S. Meena estimated the value of the haul at about 70 million
rupees, or $1.1 million.
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