CHENNAI: Gold worth over Rs 33 lakh, concealed in petroleum jelly and hair gel by two international air passengers who arrived here on Sunday, has been recovered, the Customs said.
A native of Andhra Pradesh, who arrived from Kuwait, was intercepted by its officials based on suspicion, a Customs release here said on Monday.
On examination of his checked-in baggage, 16 gold cut bits concealed in two small plastic containers of petroleum jelly were found.
The 365 grams gold, valued at Rs 19.14 lakh, was recovered and seized, it said.
In another case, a city resident who landed from Dubai was intercepted and examination of his checked in-baggage revealed nine hair gel tubes in his possession.
The tubes, on being checked, were found to be unusually heavy.
They were cut open and found to contain a golden brown thick paste, suspected to be gold paste.
A total of 270 grams of gold, valued at Rs 14.16 lakh, was recovered after extraction, the release added.
The total seizure of 635 grams of gold was valued at Rs 33.30 lakh, it said, adding, further investigation was on.