8-month-old used as carrier, gold concealed in diaper; ₹1 crore haul seized at Calicut airport

Malappuram: In an unusual gold-smuggling attempt, an eight-month-old baby was allegedly used as a carrier, with gold worth nearly ₹50 lakh concealed in the infant’s diaper at the Calicut International Airport in Karipur.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized around 1 kg of gold in the operation, with the total value of the recovered gold estimated at nearly ₹1 crore, according to sources.

The DRI recovered around 500 grams of gold, valued at nearly ₹50 lakh, from the diaper of the eight-month-old child. Another quantity of gold of roughly the same weight was allegedly concealed in different parts of the body of the child’s father.

According to DRI sources, the father and his three children, all natives of Ponnani, arrived at the airport from Ras Al Khaimah around midnight on Tuesday. Acting on specific information about a suspected gold-smuggling attempt, the DRI team subjected the family and their baggage to detailed inspection, leading to the recovery of the gold.

The use of an infant as a carrier is particularly unusual and has prompted the DRI to examine whether children are being deliberately used by smuggling networks to evade detection. Officials are also investigating whether the infant or the other children had been used as carriers during previous trips.

The seizure highlights the increasingly unconventional methods allegedly adopted by gold-smuggling networks. While gold is traditionally concealed in baggage, clothing, electronic equipment or various parts of the body, smugglers appear to be exploring less obvious methods and exploiting the presence of children travelling with families.

In another seizure at Karipur, the DRI also recovered around 1 kg of gold concealed inside a coffee machine from another passenger who arrived from a Gulf country in the early hours of Wednesday.

The DRI has not yet disclosed further details of the second seizure, including the identity of the passenger and the exact manner in which the gold was concealed. Sources said the details are being withheld as the formal arrest of the persons involved is yet to be recorded.