Gold worth over ₹70 lakh found inside passenger's rectum at Trichy airport
The passenger who was travelling on an Air India flight from Dubai to Trichy has been arrested.
Officials of the air intelligence unit at Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirappalli airport have seized a total of 977 gram of gold valued at ₹70.58 lakh from a passenger arriving from Dubai. The officials said that the gold was concealed in three packets consisting of 1081 grams of paste-like material in the rectum of the passenger. The passenger who was travelling on an Air India flight from Dubai to Trichy has been arrested in connection with the incident. Further investigation is underway.
Earlier in March, the AIU officials seized 410 gram of gold valued at ₹26.62 lakh from a passenger arriving from Singapore. The gold consisted of 330 gram of 24K gold extracted from paste-like material and 80 grams of gold concealed inside the passenger's vest.
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In a similar manner, the customs department recently seized diamonds and gold, collectively valued at ₹6.46 crore, from the Mumbai airport. The officials arrested four passengers in 13 different cases. The diamonds were reportedly hidden inside noodle packets in transparent airtight pouches and kept inside a check-in bag, while the gold was concealed in baggage and body parts of the passengers.
An Indian national who was travelling from Mumbai to Bangkok was found involved in a bid to smuggle diamonds worth ₹2.02 crore via concealment. The passenger was arrested and remanded to custody by a city court.
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On the other hand, gold dust in wax was allegedly found inside the body parts of certain passengers. Gold bars were also recovered from passengers’ trousers, pockets, baggage as well as undergarments. In all, 6.81 kg of gold was seized by the officials, the sources said.
10 Indian nationals who arrived from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Doha (Qatar), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Muscat (Oman), Bangkok (Thailand), and Singapore - were found carrying 6.19 kg of gold.
(With inputs from ANI)
