CHENNAI: Indian Customs has seized 2.5kg of gold, concealed in the filaments of electric bulbs worth of 65 lakh at Chennai airport from a passenger arriving from Abu Dhabi here the other night.
Around 10.30pm, after an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi arrived, customs officials picked out a passenger identified as Suresh of Kozhikode, on suspicion and checked his baggage. They found nearly 5,000 bulbs in a card board box and asked him why he was carrying so many bulbs. He said he was an electrical engineer and was taking the bulbs for a project.
The officials broke one of the bulbs and found the filament was made of gold. They detained Suresh and all the other bulbs, after a check, were found to have gold filaments. Suresh said that someone had approached him to make a trip to Abu Dhabi and back with a baggage for a certain sum.