THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: IN a joint operation, the officers of Customs Intelligence and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 3.3 kg of gold concealed in the rectum of 14 passengers who arrived at Trivandrum International Airport (TIA) from Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday night.
All the passengers belong to Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu.
According to a senior official of Customs Intelligence, the passengers were intercepted around 10 pm after they landed here by a Malindo Air flight.
Acting on a specific intelligence collected by the DRI that gold was being smuggled from Malaysia in large quantity by some Tamil Nadu-based gangs, DRI officers were deployed at various parts of the terminal. They conducted detailed passenger profiling and identified the suspects for interception and recovery of the smuggled gold.
The passports of the suspected passengers were scrutinised and, later, 14 passengers were found suspicious by the sleuths and they were taken to a nearby hospital for scanning. The officers found gold bars in various shapes in the rectum of the passengers.
The accused were earlier involved in similar smuggling operations through various airports.
Worth Rs 92 lakh
The value of the seized gold was put at around Rs 92 lakh. The officials said the exact value was yet to be decided.