Jaffna woman nabbed with gold bars at Chennai airport

A Jaffna Tamil woman who travelled from Colombo to Chennai by SriLankan Airlines was nabbed by the Indian Customs officials and detained on charges of smuggling gold bars valued at Indian Rs. 1.6 million.
The flight to Chennai took off on Saturday 9 pm from Colombo and landed at the international sector of the Chennai Meenambakkam airport at midnight. The Sri Lankan woman who carried only a suitcase, declared that she was not carrying any dutiable items and tried to pass through the green channel, but was stopped by the Customs officials.
When the Customs officials did a thorough search of her suitcase, they drew a blank, as they did not find anything inside incriminating in her suitcase other than her personal belongings. But sources revealed that the customs officials grew suspicious about the abnormal looking handle of the suitcase the woman was carrying.
They broke open the handle and found hidden two gold bars weighing 1,160 grams. On investigation, it was revealed that the woman named Mangaleswaet, 47, was from Jaffna.
24/11/08 Asian Tribune/Ceylon Daily News, Sri Lanka

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008, Foreign Nov 2008