Lanka: Hub of smuggling?

Indian Customs officials seized 360 gm of gold from a Sri Lankan national who arrived at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on a flight from Colombo, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, three Sri Lankan women had been arrested at the Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport on Saturday.

The gold was found concealed behind the tongue of one Mohammed Manzoor who arrived, the Customs said.

The gold was moulded into a triangular form and concealed behind the tongue, they said.

The Sri Lankan national who is a frequent visitor to the country, the officials said. The sleuths questioned him on his arrival at the international terminal with a hand baggage.

The accused, who operated mainly via Chennai, was coming to the city for the first time. Meanwhile three Sri Lankan women, who allegedly tried

to smuggle in gold,

Three Sri Lankan women had been arrested on Saturday with gold....

were apprehended by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Kempegowda International Airport (KIAL) on Saturday night

Gold weighing 1.169 kg in the form of bullion and jewellery were recovered from them, the Hindu reported.

The arrested women were identified as Nagoor Adumai Fatima (45), Ayub Fatima Roshana (43), and Mohammed Iftikhar Fahmeeda (48), who arrived on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL-173 from Colombo at 2.50 a.m.The report said: “The three women passed through immigration and Customs clearance but CISF personnel from the Crime and Intelligence Wing, who had been trailing them after they observed their suspicious behaviour, caught two of them when they were removing something from their shoes and transferring it to the handbag at the arrival terminal.