HYDERABAD: Smuggling gold has almost become an art form, albeit the perverse kind. Every other day, the precious metal is found by officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad in intriguing forms. Sometimes hidden inside lining of a suitcase, and sometimes like gold ‘paste’.
On Sunday, the Air Intelligence Unit of Hyderabad Customs Unit seized a camshaft, used as a mechanical part in cars, with gold concealed deep inside it. Gold worth Rs70 lakh, weighing 2.30 kg, was confiscated from the Haryana-based passenger.
Officials said the passenger, said to be in his early 20s, had flown in from Sharjah. Based on specific inputs, his check-in luggage was examined for dutiable goods. During these searches, officials found a camshaft. Further inquiries revealed that the gold was moulded into liquid form and then poured into the hollow cavity inside the camshaft. Though the diameter of the camshaft is only one inch, the smugglers managed to conceal gold weighing around 2.3kg inside it.
They filled 70 per cent of the cavity of the one-feet-long camshaft, leaving a portion empty at both ends, to avoid suspicion. Officials found that the shaft costs around Rs7,000. They also found from the accused that the camshaft is used in Toyota Fortuner vehicles, however these claims are being verified. Further inquiries revealed that the accused flew to Sharjah five days ago from north India and was assigned with the task of delivering the material outside the RGIA and back to Haryana.