New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) Five Uzbek nationals have been arrested by customs officials at the airport here for allegedly smuggling close to 3 kg of gold worth Rs 1.92 crore into the country, according to a statement on Monday.

The accused were intercepted following their arrival at domestic terminal-1 of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here from Mumbai on Thursday, it said.

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They had hoped to evade scrutiny of the customs department by smuggling the gold, bought from Dubai, through the domestic terminal in Delhi instead of international arrivals at the Mumbai airport.

"On the suspicion of smuggling gold, the passengers arriving from Mumbai, after disembarkation, were brought by the customs officers at the Office of Preventive Customs (Shift) located at the international arrival hall of T-3, IGI Airport, New Delhi," the statement by the customs department said.

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Following a thorough personal search and baggage examination, nine gold chains weighing 2.8 kg were found, it said, adding the total value of the recovered gold was Rs 1.92 crore.

The passengers admitted that they had bought gold in chain form from Dubai and travelled first to Mumbai and then to Delhi in an attempt to "clandestinely clear the same from the customs as it was to be moved out not through international arrivals but through domestic arrivals at Delhi".

The gold was seized and all five passengers were arrested, the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)