BHUBANESWAR: Customs officials on Saturday intercepted a passenger from Bengaluru at Biju Patnaik International Airport here and seized gold items which he was carrying illegally with him.
Acting on a tip-off, Air Intelligence Unit officers of the Customs intercepted the passenger, who had boarded an Air India flight from Bangkok to Bhubaneswar, on Friday night and conducted a thorough search.
“We checked the passenger along with his luggage. We recovered one foreign-made gold chain and a gold bangle weighing about 304.96 grams worth `9.53 lakh,” a Customs department official said.
“The gold ornaments were coated in silver and were smuggled into the country. Further investigation into the matter is on,” he added.
Customs department officials pointed that this was the fifth seizure of smuggled gold in a week.
They had intercepted two passengers hailing from Punjab at the airport here on March 28 night and recovered 15 gold bars, which were wrapped in black adhesives and concealed in their rectums.
In another case, two passengers, natives of Thane in Maharashtra, coming by a Bangkok flight were arrested after custom officials found their activities suspicious.A search of the two persons led to the seizure of gold bars weighing around 1143.78 grams and amounting to `34.9 lakh.