KOCHI: The Air Customs Intelligence Wing of the Customs Department recovered 1.166 kg of gold from the toilet of Spice Jet flight at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), Nedumbassery, on Tuesday. A probe has been launched to track down the person who was attempting to smuggle out the gold bars.
According to Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar, as many as 10 gold bars were recovered from the toilet of Spice Jet flight SG 018, which arrived from Dubai. “The gold was concealed inside the tissue folder cabinet. The unclaimed gold was recovered during the routine rummaging of the aircraft by the Customs officers,” he said.
The Customs Department suspect the smuggling attempt might be made with the help of people who have access to the flight. “Usually, the smugglers hide gold bars in the flight, which will be later picked up by the airport employees hired by the rackets. We have to check whether any officers are aiding the smugglers in the airport. We are collecting the details of the passengers who arrived on the flight from Dubai. We are also investigating whether the agency entrusted with the cleaning of the flights at the airport are involved in the incident,” an officer said.
Gold smuggling bid thwarted
In another case, a person hailing from Thrissur was intercepted by the Customs officers while attempting to smuggle gold in paste form. “The thick brown paste weighing around 20,164 gms was seized from a passenger who arrived from Abu Dhabi by Etihad flight EY 246. The gold in compound form was concealed in the underwear of the flyer. We have started the procedure to extract the gold from the compound form and the evaluation process is taking place,” Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar said.