17kg gold worth Rs 5 crore seized in 6 months

Mangaluru: The customs officials at Kannur International Airport have achieved a hat-trick in connection to the foiling attempts to smuggle in gold in the last 6 months.

On Thursday, 2 kg gold worth Rs 60 lakh was seized from a passenger who had arrived from Sharjah and was attempting to smuggle the precious metal by hiding it in his shoes taped to his feet, his inner wear and in his anus. The accused is identified as Saiudding Ramiz from Parappanangadi.

After alighting from the flight, Ramiz was proceeding towards the exit when the customs officials subjected him to inspection during which gold hidden in his clothes was found. Under further inspection, gold was found in the form of paste hidden in his inner wear as well as in his anus. Altogether 2.583 kg of gold was seized from the accused.

Earlier to this on June 15^th, customs officials seized 1.84 kg of gold worth Rs 62 lakh hidden in the anus of three passengers. On the night of June 14^th, customs officials along with assistance from officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence confiscated 900 grams of gold worth Rs 31 lakh from the anus of two passengers.

On May 14^th, customs officials seized 679 boxes of cigarettes of foreign origin worth Rs 11 lakh from three passengers and fined them Rs 1.35 lakh. Amidst the lack of the required amount of staffs and basic facilities, this achievement has none the less been achieved, informed customs commissioner Sumit Kumar in a release.

6 months 17 kg

Since Kannur International Airport started functioning (December 2018) and up till now in 2019, customs officials have foiled 19 instances of attempt to smuggle gold seizing 17kg of the precious metal worth Rs 5.5 crore.