CHENNAI: Customs officials foiled bids to smuggle in 1.4kg gold worth Rs 55.25 lakh and cigarettes worth Rs 67,000 at Chennai airport in the last two days. On Wednesday morning Barakath Ali (27) and Abdul Khadir (39), both hailing from Ramanathapuram, who had arrived from Dubai by SriLankan Airlines flight, were intercepted at the exit of the airport arrival hall and their personal search resulted in gold cut bits found concealed in their pant pockets.
During questioning, they also admitted to have concealed gold in rubbery paste form in their rectums. On extraction, gold totally weighing 771 grams, worth Rs 29 lakh, was recovered. On examination of their checked-in luggage, 24 cartons of Dunhill, Benson and Hedges cigarettes, worth Rs 48,000, were recovered.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, Sherzath Ahamed (20), hailing from Chennai, and Mohamed Nizar (27)
from Tiruchirappalli, who arrived from Dubai by an Indigo flight, were intercepted and on personal search, one was found to have gold cut bits concealed in his pant pocket and on persistent questioning, both admitted to have rectum concealment of gold in rubbery paste form.
On extraction, gold weighing 494 grams worth Rs 18.62 lakh was recovered. On examination of their checked-in luggage, eight cartons of Gudang Garam cigarettes worth Rs 19,200 were recovered.
Similarly, on Tuesday night, Hithayadullah Sahubar Sathik (34), hailing from Ramanathapuram, who had arrived from Colombo by Indigo flight, was intercepted and gold totally weighing 202 grams worth Rs 7.62 lakh, was recovered.