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1.82 kilos of gold, 26.5 kilos of saffron seized by customs at Chennai airport

Customs officials at Chennai International Airport on Sunday intercepted two passengers carrying 1.82 kilograms of gold valued at Rs 71.5 lakhs. Ameer Thekkulla Kandy (41) from Ekarool and Haroon Nahar Moyath (29) from Kozhikode had arrived from Dubai by an Emirates flight.

The Customs officials intercepted the two based on specific information. Upon searching them, gold in the form of rubbery spread was found concealed in the waistband of their pants. Both the passengers were then arrested.

Earlier on Wednesday, Customs officials were able to recover 26.5 kilograms of Iranian Saffron valued at Rs 63.60 lakhs. Based on specific information, the officials stopped passenger Mohamed Javid Mushar (22) of Nagapattinam who had arrived at Chennai from Dubai via Muscat by Oman Air Flight.

He was noticed to be moving suspiciously inside the arrival hall. A press release from the Commissioner of Customs states that the passenger had collected his checked in luggage from the belt and was found to be running in a hurried manner towards the exit.

His bag contained Termes Saffron packets of Iranian origin in pouches of 25 grams each. Mohamed Javid Mushar was then arrested and further investigated regarding the contraband.

Last month, airport authorities seized 2.6 kilograms of gold worth Rs 1 crore, and US currency worth $10,000 from ten people in a single day. According to a press statement released by the Air Intelligence Unit, Chennai Airport, 10 passengers who arrived at Chennai International Airport from different countries were intercepted at the exit by the officials.

Of them, seven passengers — who had arrived at Chennai from Colombo, Dubai and Singapore through various airlines — were intercepted based on suspicions that they were smuggling gold by concealing it in their bodies.

This, however, was not the first time that the authorities have foiled plots by people who try to smuggle gold by concealing it in their rectums. Last week, the Customs authorities recovered almost one kilogram of gold — in the form of jewellery and gold paste — worth Rs 37 lakh from a man and a woman who had arrived from Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

Source: The News Minute