1.4 kg gold seized at Chennai airport

Chennai: In what could be a grim reminder of the age-old practice of gold smugglers, Chennai Airport Customs last week arrested two "carriers" --
one, an Indian and the other, a Sri Lankan -- for smuggling 1.489 kg of 24-carat pure gold bars, concealed in their rectum. They had arrived from Colombo. In two other cases, customs officials had seized one kg of gold jewellery being smuggled in by two passengers travelling in the same sector last week.
In the latest case, the culprits had wrapped the bars in carbon sheets to escape from metal detectors, but landed in the Customs net owing to intelligence inputs. "Our officials found two passengers Mohammad Israth of Kandy in Sri Lanka and Mohammad Shahul of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu in uneasy postures and hence picked them up for questioning. Showing no resistance, they admitted to carrying gold in their rectum," said R Periasami, commissioner of customs.
In the past 20 days alone, the Chennai Airport Customs has seized 7.5 kg of gold bars and jewellery from passengers who evaded paying customs duty.
27/10/09 K Praveen Kumar/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Oct 2009, Foreign Oct 2009