KOCHI: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs at the Kochi airport arrested two persons, including a Malaysian national, in separate gold smuggling attempts on Wednesday night.
In the first incident, Malaysian national Thaneswaran Kuppuswamy was arrested for smuggling 710.39 grams of gold worth Rs 37.22 lakh.
The foreigner arrived on Malindo Airlines from Kaula Lumpur. The officials recovered three crude gold chains weighing 567.41g and two gold pendants weighing 40.58g and a gold bangle of 102.40g from him.
The gold ornaments were concealed in his innerwear. During the interrogation, the accused admitted that he smuggled gold for a remuneration of Rs 30,000.
In the second incident, Palakkad native Muhammad Rashid was intercepted by an AIU officer with 196.80g of gold worth Rs 10 lakh.
The accused arrived on an Air Indian Express flight from Sharjah. During the profiling, AIU officials searched Rashid and found gold in compound form weighing 136.60g underneath the sole of his footwear.
The officers also found two crude gold chains weighing 60.20g concealed inside a specially stitched cavity of the waistline of his jeans.
Both were later released on bail. Customs have launched a detailed probe into the incident and attempts are on to identify people who hired the carriers.