CHENNAI: In a big achievement, customs officials conducted four different operations at the Chennai international airport and seized a total of gold worth over Rs 1 crore and ten thousand US Dollars from passengers.
Luggage of seven Indian passengers, coming from Sri Lanka and Dubai, were searched by the officials on Thursday on the grounds of suspicion.
The search led to the seizure of gold weighing over 2.6 kgs in total in three different operations on Thursday, according to a press release by the Office of Commissioner of Customs.
One of the nabbed passengers, who was bound to Singapore via Colombo, was carrying USD 10,000 equivalent to Rs 7 lakh in Indian currency. The same was recovered and seized under the Customs Act 1962 read with FEMA (Export and Import of currency) (Amendment) (Regulations), 2015.
The customs officials also seized five refurbished laptops and 5600 sticks of cigarettes valued at Rs 81,000 under the Customs Act, 1962 from the two of the passengers, according to the release.
Further investigation is under progress.