Another Big Gold Haul at Airport

KOCHI: The Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department on Saturday seized  3.99 kg of gold from two passengers at the Kochi International Airport. The passengers, who had arrived from Doha and Muscat, are natives of Chennamangallur in Kozhikode, and Kannur. They were carrying different consignments of gold.

According to customs officials, the first person who arrived from Doha  at 09.40 am, via Srilanka by a Srilankan Airlines flight, was intercepted while he was trying to exit through the green channel. On detailed examination of his baggage, a crude gold rod was found concealed inside the choke of a halogen light. The gold rod, having 24 carat purity, weighed 999.60 grams and valued `29,33,826. In the second case, the passenger who arrived from Muscat by a Jet Airways flight had concealed the gold inside a water dispenser. With the assistance of experts, the water dispenser was opened and three gold bars weighing around 1 kg each were seized. The gold is having market value of `88,05,000.

The operation was conducted by a team of officers led by Customs Deputy Commissioner Abhilash K Sreenivasan.  The other members of the team were superintendents G Ajith Krishnan, K S Bijumon, Sareen Joseph, K X Lalfi Joseph and G Rajesh Kumar; and inspectors Tushar Kanti Biswas, Anjana Menon, Jimmy Mathew, Sunil Kumar and Vishal.

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