Bhubaneswar: Officials of the Customs Department on Friday seized 340 grams of gold from Biju Patnaik International Airport here and detained two persons in this connection.
The market value of the seized gold is estimated to be worth Rs 10.56 lakh.
According to sources, the custom officials noticed the suspicious behaviour of the duo and intercepted them. Upon searching their bags and dress pockets, the gold was recovered from them.
The two were allegedly smuggling the gold to Chennai from Kuala Lumpur.
In a similar seizure on July 21, the Air Intelligence Unit officials had seized smuggled gold worth Rs 9 lakh at Biju Patnaik International Airport here and detained a person in this connection.
Noticing the suspicious activities of an Indian-origin passenger, who arrived from Bangkok on an Air India flight AI 339, the officials detained him and recovered gold weighing 295 grams hidden inside his rectum.
The Revenue Intelligence Directorate had on June 16 recovered gold weighing more than 250 grams from a youth. The youth, hailing from Mohali in Punjab, was detained on charges of possessing the smuggled gold after he arrived at the airport in a flight from Bangkok. The estimated worth of the seized gold was over Rs 8 lakh.
In an earlier case, Air Intelligence Unit officials had seized gold, weighing 355.120 grams, from a person at the airport here on June 14. The seized gold was valued at Rs 11.37 lakh.
Smuggled gold worth Rs 9 lakh was also seized on May 7, from a passenger by the Revenue Intelligence Directorate. Three Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were detained for possessing the gold.
On April 22, an NRI woman was detained by customs personnel for allegedly carrying illegal gold worth Rs 17 lakh. The woman, who had arrived at the city airport from Bangkok, was travelling on a Thai passport. Silver-coated gold chains and bangles were also recovered from her possession.
On April 9, the airport officials had seized 700 grams of gold valued at Rs 22 lakh being smuggled inside a mixer grinder. Similarly, gold weighing 180 gram amounting to Rs 5.66 lakh was seized on April 1.
Gold bars and rings worth over Rs 12 lakh were also seized from two persons at the airport on March 28. During search, the officials found three gold bars concealed in their rectum and 143 gold rings inside the buttons of shirts and jeans pants.
