Bengaluru customs confiscate 5 kg smuggled gold; arrest 21

Bengaluru: The Indian customs officials at the Kempegowda International Airport hit it big as they confiscated a big cache of smuggled gold worth Rs. 2.35 Crore in 4 separate incidents.

On October 7, the Bengaluru Air Customs intercepted and arrested 18 passengers who were attempting to smuggle gold in paste form. Out of the arrested, one passenger traveled from Dubai and the rest from Sharjah.

The contraband was concealed in the rectum and was found in a crude form, reports said. The customs recovered 24-carat gold weighing a total of 4.944Kg valued at Rs. 2.35 crores.

In another case, another passenger who arrived on an Air Arabia flight was arrested for concealing jewelry and gold powder weighing 421.25 grams in trousers and underwear.

A 47-year-old Andhra Pradesh-based passenger, who arrived at Bengaluru from Sharjah, was detained for not declaring gold biscuits weighing 116.48 grams and 3 bangles weighing 126.88 grams, the officials said.

In the fourth case, a 52-year-old passenger from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu was hiding gold powder in a box of underwear in luggage. When the bag was examined, the customs officials found 178.09 grams of gold and gold powder.

Meanwhile, further investigations are on.