New Delhi:  In a dramatic recall of an IndiGo flight from the runway as it was about to take off for Hyderabad a jeweller and his son were arrested on Friday by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence for attempting to illegally carry gold jewellery worth over Rs 16 crore. The arrests came two days after the two were detained at Kolkata airport.

The jeweller, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, had boarded the flight using a ticket booked in the name of his son, who was simultaneously booked on an Emirates flight from Kolkata to Dubai and had already checked in. The gold, which was an export consignment supposed to be carried by the son to Dubai, was instead recovered from the father on the recalled IndiGo flight. The jeweller was allegedly diverting gold, meant specifically for export, for sale in India.

A preliminary questioning of the accused has revealed that the jeweller had smuggled what were meant to be “export” consignments of about 1,100 kg of pure gold jewellery worth over Rs 300 crore to domestic markets in the last one year alone, a source said.

Gold bars were purchased from the State Trading Corporation and the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India and duty exemption of 10% was availed with the declared intention of exporting jewellery. If the gold bars were purchased for domestic consumption, the jeweller would have to pay about Rs 30 crore in customs duty besides income tax and other state taxes as applicable, an officer explained.