Mumbai: A passenger tried to smuggle over a kg of gold worth Rs 26 lakh in talcum powder containers but was arrested by Mumbai airport Customs officials on Wednesday.
The interception happened after the IndiGo passenger, who flew in from Dubai, failed to reply to questions posed by Customs officials. The passenger, M K Sathar, was arrested and later released on a bail of Rs 50,000.
"The gold was very cleverly concealed inside talcum powder containers. Gold, shaped to the form of sheets, was painted silver and was rolled into these containers along with talcum powder,'' said a Customs department official. The interception was one of the best by the Customs in recent times as metal hidden in talcum powder is not easy to detect on an X-ray machine. Talc is a mineral made of hydrated magnesium silicate and on the X-ray screen the powder container shows up as a black spot, which is very much similar to what metals appear like on screen.
23/01/14 Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
The interception happened after the IndiGo passenger, who flew in from Dubai, failed to reply to questions posed by Customs officials. The passenger, M K Sathar, was arrested and later released on a bail of Rs 50,000.
"The gold was very cleverly concealed inside talcum powder containers. Gold, shaped to the form of sheets, was painted silver and was rolled into these containers along with talcum powder,'' said a Customs department official. The interception was one of the best by the Customs in recent times as metal hidden in talcum powder is not easy to detect on an X-ray machine. Talc is a mineral made of hydrated magnesium silicate and on the X-ray screen the powder container shows up as a black spot, which is very much similar to what metals appear like on screen.
23/01/14 Times of India
