Gold worth Rs 2 cr seized from sandals, rectum of air travellers

The operation involved women smuggling the gold using ingenious concealments

The Customs officials at the international airport have totally seized 4.35 kilograms of gold in eight separate cases, amounting to Rs 2.07 crore. The recovery is significant since it involved women passengers, traveling in large groups, concealing the gold under their Burkhas, in the rectum and using other ingenious concealments. It is one of the biggest seizures of gold at the airport this year, officials said.

According to the Customs officials, based on the profiling and surveillance of passengers, six Sudanese passengers arriving from Sharjah were intercepted on Monday and their detailed examination resulted in the recovery of gold dust in wax form, having a collective net weight of 2932 grams. In two cases gold dust was concealed inside the soles of sandals and in four other cases, it was partial rectum and partial body concealment. Two other Sudanese passengers arriving from Dubai on Monday were intercepted and their detailed examination resulted in the recovery of melted gold bars and assorted jewelry collectively weighing 345 grams.

“In another case, on Monday, acting on the specific intelligence, one passenger who was arriving from Trivandrum to Mumbai at Terminal-1 was intercepted. A personal search of the passenger resulted in the recovery of 1285 grams of gold dust in wax form. The passenger admitted that he had extracted the gold dust from the seat (blocked in advance) of the aircraft,” an air intelligence unit (AIU) official said, adding that the gold dust was concealed in the aircraft in Sharjah, during its Sharjah-Trivandrum leg.

In a separate case, based on profiling and suspicion, two passengers who were departing to Dubai on Sunday, were intercepted and a detailed examination of their baggage resulted in the recovery of assorted foreign currency (Pounds, Omani Rials and Saudi Riyals) cleverly concealed in the handbag and trolley bag, amounting to Rs 22.5 lakh. Both the passengers accepted that they were smuggling the foreign currency as carriers for monetary consideration offered by the handler, officials said.

“In total, five passengers have been arrested in the said cases, as in some cases the passengers had to undergo medical treatment to get the gold removed from their body and in some cases the accused were carrying a lesser quantity, which does not amount to arrest,” said the official.