DRI Finds ₹70-Lakh Gold Paste Under Seat on Varanasi-Bound Flight

VARANASI — Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officers arrested a Gujarat man at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport after allegedly finding foreign-origin gold in paste form beneath his seat on a flight from Sharjah.

The seizure involved 491.290 grams net of 24-carat gold valued at about ₹70 lakh. A DRI official said the agency had received specific information about a passenger travelling on the Varanasi-bound flight on Sunday.

After the aircraft landed, officers searched the passenger and the seating area. The gold compound was allegedly concealed under the seat. Gold carried in paste or compound form can later be processed into bullion or bars, the official explained.

The passenger has not been named in the report used by Dalimss News. The DRI alleges he is linked to a syndicate that moves smuggled gold for delivery in Varanasi and Delhi. That is an investigative claim; it has not yet been tested in court, and the arrested man is entitled to due process.

WHY THE CONCEALMENT METHOD MATTERS

Gold paste is used to make visual detection more difficult than it would be with a conventional bar or ornament. Its gross weight can include binding material, which is why enforcement agencies often report the net gold recovered after processing. In this case, the DRI figure is 491.290 grams of 24-carat metal.

The reported hiding place also shifts attention from a body search to the aircraft cabin. Investigators will need to establish who placed the packet beneath the seat, when it was placed, whether the passenger had continuous control over it and whether anyone else had access to the row. The answers are central to proving possession and any alleged network.

The agency has also carried out a separate recent action at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction in neighbouring Chandauli. A woman travelling from Cooch Behar in West Bengal was allegedly carrying 4.98 kilograms of foreign-origin gold linked to Bangladesh, valued by the agency at about ₹7.11 crore.

TWO ROUTES, ONE ENFORCEMENT QUESTION

The airport case and the railway seizure involve different people and circumstances, and there is no public evidence in the cited report that they are connected. Together, however, they show why Varanasi's air and rail links attract revenue-intelligence scrutiny: the city is both a destination market and a transfer point towards Delhi and other parts of north India.

The next legal steps may include valuation records, statements, travel and communication data, and proceedings under customs law. Dalimss News has not independently reviewed a seizure memo, remand order or complaint in the case.

For now, the verified public core is limited but significant: the DRI says a Sharjah flight was searched after a tip, nearly half a kilogram of net gold was recovered from beneath a seat, and one passenger was taken into custody. Claims about the wider syndicate remain part of an ongoing investigation.