Customs seize gold worth Rs 1.14 crore from air passengers at KIA

Bengaluru: A total of 3.45 kg of gold worth Rs 1.14 crore was seized from five passengers entering the Kempegowda International Airport in the last three days.

As per the sources, out of five, four seizures were made on Thursday, May 16 alone. The biggest seizure of 2.25 kg gold was made in the early hours of Thursday from a passenger returning to the city from Bangkok by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The passenger Arif Hussain on ThaiAsia flight was intercepted and his hand baggage checked.

Gold weighing 1.2 kg worth Rs 39.6 lakh was also seized on Thursday by the Customs Department.

As per the official release, ” One gold nugget wrapped in black insulation tape in pellet form was found in her rectum, the same passenger was carrying one pair of gold ear studs,” said an official release.

A 44-year-old woman had used the same tactic to conceal gold but she carried it in her undergarments. She was also wearing a gold bracelet and a pair of ear studs.

On a different flight from Colombo to Bengaluru, a male Indian passenger was caught carrying 402 g of gold concealed in the form of paste in his undergarments. In a different seizure by the Customs. In another case, a woman passenger was found carrying a gold chain coated with a silver colour from a flight heading to the city from Muscat.