Gold worth Rs 85 lakh seized at Kochi airport

KOCHI: Officials of the customs air intelligence unit (AIU) on Sunday foiled yet another bid to smuggle gold into the country through the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) and seized as much as 1,978.89g of gold in compound form from a carrier who arrived here from Kuwait. The seized gold, once extracted, is expected to have a value of around Rs 85 lakh.

Customs said the passenger was one Abdul of Malappuram. “On the basis of profiling done by the officials of AIU batch, a passenger who arrived from Kuwait was intercepted at green channel. During the examination of the said passenger, two rectangle-shaped packets containing gold in compound form were recovered and seized. The recovered contraband was concealed by the passenger by wrapping it around both the legs with the help of black adhesive tapes,” said a customs official.

Sources said the customs officials felt suspicious about the way in which the carrier was walking, and this led to the checking and seizure.

The gold is converted into compound form by smugglers to try to beat the metal detectors. Pure gold is extracted from the compound once the smuggled contraband reaches the destination. Officials said that an investigation was on to find the source and destination of the contraband.