Customs Foil Gold Smuggling Bid At Bhubaneswar Airport

Bhubaneswar: Customs officers (Air Intelligence Unit) on Tuesday foiled a gold smuggling bid at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here.

Acting on a tip-off, the officers detained two passengers travelling from Bangkok by Air Asia flight number FD-112. One of the passengers hails from Bengal and the other from Jharkhand.

Police sources said that customs officials found white gold rings concealed under buttons of their clothes inside checked-in baggage.

The total gold recovered from them weighed 278.83gm and had 99.9 per cent purity level. It is valued at an estimated Rs 9.08 lakh, assistant commissioner of customs at BPI Airport, B.B. Patnaik, said.