Customs dept intercepts 9 people, sizes gold valued at Rs 2.07 crore

In the first instance, six women Sudanese passengers who had arrived from Sharjah via Air Arabia were intercepted, according to AIU officials. During further examination, officials found and recovered gold dust in wax form weighing 2,932 grams.

“All the six passengers were wearing burkhas. Two women had concealed the gold dust inside the soles of their sandals while four others had hidden it in their rectum and other body parts,” said an official.

In the second instance, two Sudanese women passengers arriving from Dubai via Fly Dubai were intercepted. “Their detailed examination resulted in recovery of melted gold bars and assorted jewellery collectively weighing 345 gram,” said an officer, adding that these women were not arrested as the value of the gold recovered from them is below Rs 20 lakh.

In the third case, a male passenger from Trivandrum was caught at Terminal 1. Authorities revealed that they had received intelligence about him carrying 1,285 gram gold dust in wax form.

“The male passenger revealed that the recovered gold dust was concealed in the aircraft in Sharjah during the Sharjah-Trivandrum route. The information about the seat number was passed on to him and the respective seat was also blocked for him,” said an officer.

During his journey from Trivandrum to Mumbai, he extracted the gold dust from the seat of the aircraft