Kochi: Customs sleuths seized gold worth over Rs 50 lakh at Kochi airport on Thursday and Friday. Three passengers were intercepted and found carrying 949.55 grams of gold costing Rs 51,16,935.
Of the three, the passenger who landed from Dubai made the slickest attempt to smuggle the gold out of the airport. Kozhikode native Sakaria, who reached the airport on an Air India flight, was intercepted by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) on arrival and subjected to examination, during which they found that gold weighing 216 grams was concealed in five buttons stitched into three pairs of jeans, one hairclip and one ring. The gold, estimated at Rs 11,63,981, was seized under relevant sections of the Customs Act, 1962.
In the second case, AIU officers intercepted the passenger based on intelligence input they received from the Kozhikode unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). Kozhikode native Hisham Marshad, who had arrived from Bangkok on a Thair AirAsia flight, was found carrying two gold chains and two bangles weighing 500.6 grams during the personal search. Valued at Rs 26,97,633, the chains were secreted inside the socks worn by Hisham.
In the third case, Palakkad native Ijas Ismail, who had arrived from Sharjah on a GoAir flight, was found carrying three gold rings and one chain weighing 232.95 grams during personal search. Estimated at Rs 12,55,321, the gold was seized by officials and further proceedings are underway.
