Smuggled Gold Worth Rs 11.37L Seized At Bhubaneswar Airport

Bhubaneswar: Custom Air Intelligence Unit officials seized gold, weighing 355.120 grams, from a person at Biju Patnaik International Airport here on Thursday.

The passenger, hailing from Kerala, had arrived in an AirAsia flight AI 339 from Bangkok. He has been detained for interrogation.

According to sources, he was allegedly carrying the smuggled gold stuffed in four capsules inside his rectum. The market value of the seized gold has been estimated to be around Rs 11.37 lakh, sources added.

On May 7, smuggled gold worth Rs 9 lakh was seized from a passenger at the airport by the Revenue Intelligence Directorate. Three Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were detained for possessing the gold.

On April 22, a NRI woman was detained by customs personnel for allegedly carrying illegal gold worth Rs 17 lakh. The woman, who had arrived in 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 while being smuggled inside a mixer grinder. Similarly, gold weighing 180 gram amounting to Rs 5.66 lakh was seized on April 1.

Earlier, gold bars and rings worth over Rs 12 lakh were 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. During examination, the seized ornaments were found to be of foreign origin smuggled into India.