BENGALURU: Bulk seizures of gold and cigarettes apart from live creatures were carried out this week at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru.
A total of 1.95 kg of gold valued at Rs 99.4 lakh, 840 pieces of e-cigarettes and 60 star tortoises, an endangered species, were seized in five separate incidents involving both domestic and international passengers between August 27 and August 30.
The latest of the seizures was recorded on August 30 by the Air Intelligence Unit of Airport Customs when the team intercepted a passenger who arrived from Bangkok.
“It involved the concealment of 442.34 grams of the metal in the form of three capsules concealed inside thin latex rubber inside his rectum. The gold is valued at Rs 22.33 lakh,” said a Customs source.
On August 29, based on specific intelligence inputs, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized imported gold in paste form worth Rs 46.47 lakh from two passengers.
“They were arriving from Imphal to KIA and had concealed 924 grams of it inside their rectum,” the source said.
A total of 583 grams of gold worth Rs 30.6 lakh were seized from a passenger from Dubai who had concealed it in the form of rhodium-coated gold wires inside his trolley bag by the AIU on August 27.
On the same day, two different kinds of detections were made, another source said.
One involved 60 numbers of star tortoises in the check-in baggage of two passengers from Bengaluru to Bangkok.
AIU detected it based on specific inputs provided by the baggage inspection team.
“The passengers involved, Ganeshan Ramaswamy and Vinod Kumar Kambad, have been arrested,” the source added.
The tortoises have been handed over to the forest department for rehabilitation.
The department is also carrying out further investigations.
In another case, e-cigarettes worth Rs 16.38 lakh, concealed inside 84 boxes in the check-in baggage were intercepted by the DRI from a passenger from Dubai. AIU has booked a case.