CHENNAI: The brazen bid of fifteen air passengers to smuggle in gold worth Rs 1.43 crore by hiding it inside their bums, backfired after Air Intelligence sleuths detected the gold.It is learnt that the sleuths detected 15 cases on Thursday night and Friday morning and all the passengers were caught trying to smuggle the gold stashed in their rectum.
Altogether, 4.33kg of gold worth Rs 1.43 crore was seized at Chennai International Airport. The gold was found to have been concealed in a rubbery material in their rectums.On Friday morning, eleven passengers - Syed Ajmir Haja, 24, Mohamed Hussinudeen, 36, Mohamed Hasan Khan, 24, all hailing from Ramanathapuram, and Sheik Syed, 36, hailing from Erode, Syed Ibrahim, 44, from Chennai, who had arrived from Colombo by Air India Flight AI 274, Shah Jahan, 55, from Delhi, who had arrived by an Air Asia flight, Shonvignesh, 27, of Sivagangai, Sadik, 46, Abdul Wahab Saharan, 39, Asik Raja, 27, all three from Chennai who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur and Mohamed Sharkhan, 20, of Ramanathapuram, who had arrived from Dubai, were intercepted and gold was recovered from them, according to a Customs department release. A total of 3.15kg of gold worth Rs 1.04 crore was seized from them.
On Thursday night, four passengers who had arrived from Colombo, were intercepted and gold was recovered. They include Ahamed Gani, 31, of Pudukkottai, who arrived by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight, Kalandar Naiana Mohamed, 39, of Pudukottai, Shajakhan, 38, of Ramanathapuram, and Bakrutheenali, 35, of Chennai, who arrived by an Indigo Airlines flight. A total of 1.18 kg gold worth Rs 39.15 lakh was seized.
Bike rider falls into pit, dies
CHENNAI: A 43-year-old motorist died after he fell into a 15-foot-deep pit dug by the National Highways department at Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district on Thursday night. Police said road traffic was diverted to take a U-turn but there were no barricades to stop vehicles and so, the victim fell into the pit along with his motorbike. Kaathan (43), a resident of Panpakkam village near Gummidipoondi, was working at a private factory in Ambattur Industrial Estate. “Around 6 am on Friday, he was found dead in the pit dug for the bridge on the Chennai-Kolkata national highway. His two-wheeler was found on his body,” said a police officer. “When he was near the old Kavaraipettai police station on the national highway, he did not notice the U-turn diversion and drove ahead. About 300 metres from the diversion board, he fell into the pit dug for the ongoing bridge work,” said the officer.
Truck driver killed in freak accident
CHENNAI: A 44-year-old lorry driver who was carrying M-Sand from Tiruvallur died while he was spraying water on the sand, and was pulled into the sludge on Thursday night. Police said, Arumugam (44) a resident of Maduravoyal at Chennai, was working as a lorry driver in a private company. On Thursday evening, he picked up a load of M-Sand from a manufacturing unit at Tiruttani. “He had already sprayed water to avoid the sand from spreading due to wind. When he was at Redhills at around 9pm, the water had dried up and he stopped near a water service centre to again spray the water on the sand. He was already knee deep while spraying the water, standing on top of the heap of sand,” said a police officer. As the speed of the water was forceful, Arumugam got stuck in the sand and might have raised an alarm to stop the water, which may not have been heard by the employees, said an officer.