KOCHI: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs Department at the Cochin International Airport seized 508 g of gold being smuggled in compound form from a Malappuram native who had arrived from Dubai the other day. The compound was concealed in the passenger's underwear. It has been sent for chemical examination at the Customs Laboratory, said Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar.
Customs officers at CIAL have seized a total of 1.8 kg of gold from different passengers in the past week. On April 23, 159.94 g of crude gold jewellery valued `5.16 lakh was seized from a Malappuram native who arrived from Kuala Lumpur. The gold had been concealed in his person. The next day, a Kozhikode native arriving from Bahrain was detained and crude gold chains weighing 233.2 g were seized from him. The gold which is worth `7.49 lakh, was concealed in his person.
In another case, four gold bars weighing 228 g were seized from a Malappuram native who arrived from Muscat on April 25. The gold bars concealed in his rectum and were valued at `7.27 lakh. In two other cases, 540 g of gold jewellery valued at `16.28 lakh was seized from two passengers who arrived from Sharjah on April 24.In three previous cases, 2.4 kg of gold was extracted from a brown-coloured powder of gold in compound form, which was worth `76.73 lakh.