Customs officials arrest two passengers with cash and gold paste at Bengaluru airport

Air Customs officials at the Kempegowda International Airport here have arrested two passengers, including a Thai national, and seized from them a cache of cash and gold paste worth over Rs one crore. They said surveillance based on the ”profiling” of passengers led to the interception of two of them on the night of February 29 and the wee hours of March one.

“One Indian citizen attempted to smuggle Indian currency amounting to Rs 51,95,500 in denomination of Rs 500 to Kuala Lumpur by fight OD-242, concealing the same in the hand baggage as well as the checked in baggage. The Indian currency recovered was seized,” Bengaluru Air Customs said in a statement.

In another incident, a passenger from Thailand, who arrived from Dubai in Indigo Flight 6E-1486, was intercepted. He had attempted to smuggle foreign origin gold in paste form with a net weight of 824.67 grams valued at Rs 50.8 lakh. The gold was seized, the statement said.

They said further investigation was in progress.