An investigation has been launched after customs authorities in India reported they had confiscated a handgun from a passenger on a flight from Dubai shortly after it arrived in Delhi.
Officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport posted on Twitter a photo of a handgun seized from a passenger on a FlyDubai flight from Dubai International Airport.
Customs officers said the passenger was arrested after arriving in Delhi from Dubai on flight FZ451 on Tuesday, February 1.
“Continuing in its vigil, Customs at IGIA seized a revolver and two empty magazines from an India passenger arrived from Dubai by FZ451 flight on 1st Feb,” the Delhi Customs post read.
“The arms has been seized and the passenger has been placed under arrest.”
Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi and is the country’s busiest.
Dubai Police said any investigation was under the jurisdiction of Dubai Customs.
Dubai Customs said it only inspected passengers coming into the UAE.
FlyDubai said it was looking into the incident.
“We are aware of the tweet,” a FlyDubai representative said.
“We are taking it seriously and we are investigating.”
It is rare for a passenger carrying a concealed weapon to avoid detection at the many security checkpoints before boarding an aircraft at international airports.
This month, a gun loaded with six bullets was discovered in the hand luggage of a passenger at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport’s security checkpoint in the US.
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Police in Bogata, Colombia arrested this Canadian woman for trying to smuggle 2kg of cocaine on to a Canada-bound flight in September, 2013. The woman pretended to be pregnant and hid the drugs in a latex belly. AFP -
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Australian customs officers foiled this attempt to smuggle the party drug ecstasy into the country, concealed in a Mr Potato Head toy. Officers at Sydney International Mail Centre cracked open the Toy Story figurine and found 293g of the drug in October, 2007. AFP -
Portuguese police released this image of multicoloured swim trunks with two brown rubber bags — supposed to look like buttocks — attached. The passenger who was wearing them was caught at the airport in Lisbon, off a flight from Belem in northern Brazil in February 2018. The fake buttocks contained enough cocaine for 5,000 doses. Photo: Portuguese National Police -
Guatemalan smugglers were found to have scooped out the cream filling of dozens of vanilla wafers and replaced it with wraps of cocaine. US Customs and Border Protection arrested the Guatemalan passenger carrying them at George Bush Airport in Houston in April 2015. The nearly 2 kilos of cocaine would have a street value of more than $60,000. AP -
Few airports in the world will let you through security without removing your shoes, due to the threat from terrorism and to tackle drug smuggling. Australian Customs discovered nearly half a kilo of heroin in the hollowed out soles of these shoes. AFP -
Customs officers at Dubai's main airport foiled 155 attempts to smuggle 'talismans and black magic items', related to witchcraft and sorcery, in 2015. Officers said criminals take advantage of often vulnerable people with superstitions. Photo: Dubai Customs -
In August 2019, 755kg of methamphetamine was found hidden under frozen cow hide from Mexico. The crystal meth was wrapped in aluminium foil and sandwiched among 18 pallets of hide that arrived in Sydney aboard a shipping container marked 'Salty Bovine Skin'. AFP -
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London-based seafood salesman Gilbert Khoo was sentenced to jail at a British court in March, 2020 for smuggling live 'glass eels' to Hong Kong. He was caught with 200kg and the total haul between 2015 and 2017 was worth about $69m. Photo: National Crime Agency -
Khoo, pictured holding two pieces of gold, was arrested after Border Force officers seized a consignment at Heathrow Airport. Photo: National Crime Agency -
Dubai Police released this image of drugs in a hollowed out book. It was part of a consignment of two tonnes of drugs of various types. A multinational police operation tackled criminal activities related to drug smuggling and trafficking in Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Austria in November 2017. Photo: Dubai Police -
A passenger tried to smuggle a whole roasted hog from Peru to Atlanta in November, 2016, for Thanksgiving. US Customs staff seized the hidden pig, which is banned by laws designed to prevent foot and mouth disease and swine fever. Photo: US Customs and Border Protection -
Drugs are hidden inside a microwave as seizures are displayed at Dubai Airport in July 2019. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
One of the largest drug busts in Dubai's history was made at Jebel Ali Port in May 2019. Sniffer dogs alerted officers to a shipment that was found to contain 5.7 million Captagon pills. Photo: Dubai Police -
Captagon is a type of amphetamine originally used for attention deficit disorders, but was banned in the 1980s due to its highly addictive nature. Smugglers in Syria have thrived during the chaos of the war there, and many shipments have been traced to the Arab state. Photo: Dubai Police
In December, US authorities launched an investigation after an 83-year-old man flying from Barbados to Miami carried a loaded handgun on to an American Airlines flight undetected by security.
According to a police report, the passenger was arrested after landing at Miami International Airport where the weapon and five 32-calibre rounds were discovered by security officials before he transferred to an Orlando flight.
