CHENNAI: Customs officials arrested two persons in separate incidents of gold smuggling and seized arou’nd 6.4kg gold worth Rs 4.2 crore at the Chennai international airport. In one of the incident, 4 kg of gold worth Rs 2.61 crore was concealed inside a coffee maker machine.
The accused, Vikneshvaran Raja (30), a native of Thanjavur, was intercepted on Thursday at the green channel (queue for people with no dutiable items) based on his suspicious behaviour.
When his heavy baggage was examined, officials found the espresso coffee maker. After dismantling the machine, customs sleuths recovered 4 kg gold. After an inquiry, Raja was sent to judicial custody in Puzhal prison.
Raja had recently lost his job in Dubai, and was offered Rs 40,000 by a handler to smuggle the gold and deliver it to a receiver waiting outside the airport. In another case, customs officials apprehended a 36-year-old man in possession of 2.4 kg gold worth Rs 1.6 crore on Sunday at the airport. Sheikh Mehboob, a native of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, who landed from Kuwait, had concealed three pouches of gold paste in a belt tied around his waist.