Further investigation is ongoing, the airport authorities said.
In a scene that appeared to have leapt out of a film, a group of women attempted to smuggle gold worth over Rs 9 crore into Mumbai airport on Thursday by creating a ruckus to distract authorities. Nine Kenyan women have been arrested in the case.
The plan was to sneak 18.28 kg of gold past Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport authorities by setting up a chaotic diversion in the busy airport. However, the Air Intelligence Unit saw through the plan and arrested the women.
Further investigation is ongoing, the airport authorities said.
Yesterday, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a gold smuggling racket and arrested 18 Sudanese women as well as an Indian woman with 16.36 kg of the yellow metal in paste form at the same airport.
The 18 women from Sudan were carrying the smuggled gold and the Indian woman was coordinating the movement of the passengers, an official said.
Earlier this year, gold worth Rs 4 crore was found in the undergarments of two passengers at Mumbai airport. "Most of the recovered gold was concealed in the undergarments of the passengers making it extremely difficult to detect. This is a unique modus operandi busted by the DRI," an official said.