Customs team recovers 32kg gold from 14 passengers returning from UAE, Saudi at Jaipur

Amid the Vande Bharat mission that has aimed to repatriate Indian nationals living in foreign countries amid the Coronavirus pandemic, 14 Indian nationals who arrived at Jaipur International Airport from UAE & Saudi Arabia were found with nearly 32 kg of gold. The Indian nationals arrived by chartered flights were intercepted by the customs team at the airport. The gold found with them amounts to Rs 15.67 crore according to Commissioner of Customs, Jodhpur.

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Vande Bharat Mission

The Central government’s biggest evacuation exercise Vande Bharat mission has so far evacuated over five lakh citizens from 137 countries and brought them back to the country. It was launched on May 7 to rescue Indian nationals from foreign lands in the wake COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Vande Bharat Mission operations commenced on May 7, 2020, and in less than two months 5,03,990 stranded Indians from 137 countries, including from remote areas, have returned to their homes. Considering that the initial target to bring stranded Indians with compelling reasons was only 2 lakh, this is a significant achievement," MEA said in a release.

The Vande Bharat mission undertook 860 Air India flights; 1,256 charter flights and eight naval ships. The number of stranded Indians returned by Air India were 1,64,121; the Indian Navy evacuated 3,987 in 8 ships from Maldives, Iran and Colombo. Chartered flights transported 2,30,832 passengers and foreign carriers evacuated 3,969, and about 60 air ambulances were operated under the mission.

The largest number of stranded Indians who returned under Vande Bharat Mission is from UAE (57,305), followed by Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the USA while a total of 91,193 Indians returned from Nepal through land border check posts, according to Ministry of External Affairs.

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