KOCHI: Gold bars, worth over Rs. 58 lakh, were on Wednesday seized from two passengers who arrived in Kochi from Kozhikode by an Air India Express flight, Customs officials said.
The passengers, natives of Maharashtra, had boarded the domestic sector of the flight which had landed in Kozhikode from Doha en route to Kochi, a customs release said.
One of the passengers was intercepted at the exit gate of the arrival hall and a search yielded nine gold bars, concealed in his rectum, totally weighing 1049.74 grams and valued at Rs. 27,39,821, it said.
The second person, who arrived by the same flight, was traced at a hotel near Kochi airport and search of his room resulted in recovery of six more gold cut bar pieces, totally weighing 1188.64 grams and valued at Rs. 30,86,898, it said.
“The seized gold weighing 2.25 kg was handed over to them by a person who travelled as international passenger in the same flight,” the release said.
It said Officers of the Air Intelligence Unit have beenregularly maintaining surveillance at the arrival hall and nearby areas of the Airport over passengers coming from “sensitive places such as Dubai and Colombo.”
“Both these passengers tried to smuggle out the precious metal by utilising the domestic sector of the International Flight. Futher investigation of this case is going on,” the release said, adding, both the passengers have been detained.
