Man caught with gold in pen at IGI

On the evening of August 30, customs officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) stopped a man who had just arrived from Dubai without declaring any valuables.

The officials had been warned in advance by the Customs Intelligence Unit about the possibility of smuggling by passengers travelling from Dubai. This man, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in his mid-30s, did not immediately seem to be carrying anything unusual — just a pen, a shirt, a pair of jeans, a harmonica, a purse, and an umbrella.

But close inspection revealed that the nib of the pen, buttons of the shirt and jeans, interior bits of harmonica, metallic rim of purse, and skeleton of umbrella had something peculiar in common: they were made out of gold.

In total, 500gm gold worth ₹13 lakh were seized from the passenger. He is being charged under the customs act, which may lead to permanent confiscation of the gold and an additional fine.

It’s latest in a string of hiddengold

hijinks at IGIA. In recent months, customs officials at the airport have found gold inside diapers, apparently untouched papaya and the rod of a pram.

One senior customs officer at IGIA said that 70% of recent smuggling cases at the airport had originated in flights from countries around the Persian Gulf. The tactics have startled Delhi customs officials, who responded to the ‘golden-jeans’ episode by alerting staff at other airports to look out for gold in surprising places.

“It was probably the most difficult case to crack,” said the senior IGIA official. According to the official, the accused said that it is easy to find such incognito gold items in Dubai.