BENGALURU: In one of the biggest seizures in a single night from flyers after Terminal 2 commenced international operations, the Bengaluru Airport Customs seized 5.135 kg of gold valued at Rs 3.09 crore in the intervening night of November 7 and 8. Seven separate cases have been booked and a total of 5 flyers arrested.
The gold had been smuggled from the Middle East and Thailand. A Customs source said that five of the passengers had concealed the gold in semi-solid form in their rectum, one had concealed it in their undergarments while one had concealed it in the handle of a lady's purse with the gold rods coated with nickel. The gold had been smuggled from Kuwait, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Bangkok.
Giving details, the source said that four of the flyers were from Kerala and all of them concealed it in their rectum. “Two of them hailed from Kozhikode and they had come separately by Kuwait Airways while two were natives of Malappuram and came from Abu Dhabi by Etihad,” he said.
Two passengers hailed from Karnataka, one from Mudigere in Chikkamagaluru and another from Chinnayanapalya in Bengaluru. “The former had concealed it in his rectum while the Bengalurean had smuggled it inside his undergarments,” the official said. A passenger from Andhra Pradesh had concealed it as nickel-coated gold rods in the handle of a purse. Of the seven passengers, five of them who had brought in a large quantity (valued at over Rs 50 lakh) have been arrested.