Kozhikode: The seizure of gold worth nearly ₹50 lakh concealed in the diaper of an eight-month-old baby at Calicut International Airport has raised serious concerns among Customs authorities, with officials describing it as the first known instance in Kerala of a child being used as a carrier in a gold-smuggling attempt.

Customs authorities have detected several gold-smuggling attempts in the past in which gold in compound or paste form was concealed in napkins, dress materials and even children's garments. However, officials said they had not previously come across a case in which gold was hidden in clothing worn by an infant and the child was allegedly used as a carrier.

The latest incident has prompted Customs authorities to review their existing screening procedures. Officials are now considering stricter surveillance of passengers travelling with children, including infants, arriving at the airport from foreign countries.

The seizure took place around midnight on Tuesday at Calicut International Airport. Gold worth nearly ₹1 crore was allegedly being smuggled by a Ponnani native of Malappuram, with part of the gold concealed on his body and another portion hidden in the diaper of his eight-month-old child.

The case has assumed greater significance after investigators found that the wife of the arrested man and mother of the infant had herself been arrested at Nedumbassery Airport just days earlier. She was allegedly caught on Saturday in connection with another gold-smuggling attempt, in which she had concealed gold compound in a napkin. She is reportedly suspected of attempting to smuggle around 1.78 kg of gold in that manner. DRI officials said the person arrested at Karipur told investigators that he has three other wives and a total of 15 children. Investigators are now examining whether the family, including children, was part of a wider organised gold-smuggling network.

A DRI official said the use of his infant as a carrier indicated an unexpected mindset, raising the possibility that he may have been willing to use his other children for similar purposes as well. “We are investigating this angle too,” the official said.

A senior Customs officer attached to the Kochi office told Onmanorama that the latest incident had become a wake-up call for authorities maintaining surveillance over passengers arriving at the airport from foreign countries.

“We never avoid anyone in the checking process and children also undergo the routine Door Frame Metal Detector (DFMD) screening in airports. Everyone coming through that screening. But in case of smuggling gold in mixture form, paste and other compound material, we cannot detect it through routine checking using DFMD. That time we have to check suspected individuals separately,” the officer said.

According to the officer, Customs personnel have traditionally adopted a more liberal approach while checking small children and babies to avoid causing difficulties to passengers. But the latest seizure has forced the department to reconsider that approach.

“In such cases, we usually show a liberal attitude in checking small babies, aiming to avoid difficulties for passengers. But the latest incident of seizure of gold mixture from a baby's diaper is forcing us to tighten the surveillance system and put all children, including small babies, under the screening process,” the officer said.

The officer said Customs had previously encountered several attempts to smuggle gold by concealing it in silver-coloured coating materials and garments meant for small children. However, there had been no reported incident in which gold was hidden in a baby's body-worn clothing and the infant was allegedly used as part of the smuggling attempt.

The incident also underlines the fact that an infant cannot be considered a knowing participant in such a crime. According to the officer, the responsibility rests with the parent accompanying the child.

“As the baby's act was not intentional, the parent who accompanies the baby is fully responsible for the incident and he has to face the legal actions for this,” the officer said.

The latest development, however, presents Customs authorities with a delicate challenge. Any decision to subject infants and small children to more rigorous screening could cause inconvenience to genuine passengers and trigger objections. At the same time, completely exempting children from closer scrutiny could create an opportunity for smugglers to exploit their vulnerability.

“We know that those passengers who are on normal arrival would feel difficulty when we are going to expand our strong surveillance and screening process even on babies. But we may miss out many who misuse children for smuggling if we exempt anyone. We can't help. We should be more vigilant in future,” the officer said.

The concern is that smugglers could exploit the natural reluctance of security personnel to subject babies and young children to detailed physical checks. The Calicut seizure has therefore exposed a potential vulnerability in the existing airport anti-smuggling mechanism and forced Customs authorities to consider whether age can continue to be a reason for a relatively lenient approach during screening.

A senior official of the DRI’s Kozhikode office said gold smugglers were adopting different strategies to illegally transport the precious metal, including allegedly using family members and children as carriers.

“We have to check whether the person who was arrested used his family members for smuggling. We can find this out only through a detailed investigation,” he said.

Kondotty DySP A J Johnson said the police would check even small children if they received credible information suggesting that they were being used as carriers for gold smuggling. “Although Customs authorities maintain surveillance inside the airport, we are also keeping a watch outside the airport to apprehend gold smugglers. We can examine children if we receive specific information that they are being used as carriers,” he said.

The use of minors in smuggling attempts has also been reported outside Kerala. In a similar case at Mumbai airport in February 2025, a US-based NRI woman returning via Dubai was arrested along with her teenage daughter for allegedly smuggling around 5.47 kg of gold worth ₹4.86 crore.A special DRI team arrested the woman, while her daughter was released. During questioning, the minor reportedly told officials that her mother had handed her the packet containing the gold. She also said she was unaware that bringing gold into India could attract a penalty. Investigators, however, found that the woman had deliberately handed the contraband to her minor daughter, apparently believing that Customs officials would be less likely to frisk her because she was a minor.