YouTuber Sets Up Shop At Chennai Airport To Smuggle Gold, Mints Rs 3 Crore In Two Months

A souvenir shop at Chennai airport has turned out to be a front for a Sri Lankan gold smuggling syndicate, according to a report by The New Indian Express.

The shop owner, Mohammed Sabir Ali, along with seven of his employees, has been arrested for their involvement in smuggling 267 kg of gold worth Rs 167 crore over two months.

Photo Credit: PTI

Ali, a 29-year-old former YouTuber known for his channel "shoppingboyz," was recruited by the syndicate despite his lack of retail experience. He was introduced to the idea of opening a shop at Chennai airport to facilitate gold smuggling.

A member of the syndicate, residing in Abu Dhabi, provided Rs 70 lakh to help Ali secure the lease for the shop in the airport's departure lounge.

The smuggling operation worked by having Ali and his employees receive gold from transit passengers and pass it to receivers outside the airport. In return, Ali and his team earned a commission of Rs 3 crore over two months.

However, the scheme was exposed on June 29 when a suspicious Customs official discovered 1 kg of gold powder at the shop. This led to the arrest of the involved employee, the transit passenger carrying the gold, and subsequently Ali and the other employees.

The Customs department is now investigating how all eight members of Ali's team had identity cards issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), which exempted them from security checks, despite being contract employees.