Two Kenyan women were arrested in India on Sunday morning while attempting to smuggle gold valued at Ksh52 million in the Indian market.
The two women aged 34 and 48 who were nabbed at Mumbai International Airport while smuggling 6 kilograms of gold initially acknowledged being the owners of the seized gold.
According to reports published by Indian media outlets, the two women however backtracked from this position and blamed the language barrier for their detention.
Indian authorities told the press that the two women were carrying the gold separately with one carrying 3.5 kilograms and her partner 2.5 kilograms.
When the two were presented before the holiday court in Mumbai, their attorney blamed the customs officials for planting the evidence.
He claimed that there was no way the two ladies could have pleaded guilty as they did not understand English.
Additionally, he told the court that the suspects had no knowledge of Hindi which is the predominant language in India.
As such, he stated that the gold recovered did not belong to the accused adding that it was a foisted recovery.
“They do not understand English or Hindi language and therefore statements recorded can not be believed and hence we have filed retraction of the statement,” he told the Holiday Court.
“We have filed a bail application which will come for a hearing on Monday, February 26.”
As the suspects awaited a ruling on the bail application, they were remanded to judicial custody.
The suspects did not tell the court in which language they had expected to transact their business while in India.
