A 25-year-old woman was among the fifteen passengers arrested and a total of 3.72 grams of gold was seized from them.
Fifteen passengers, including a 25-year-old woman, were arrested at Chennai airport on Thursday for trying to smuggle in gold by concealing it inside their rectums and inside chocolate wrappers. According to officials, a total of 3.72 grams of gold valued at Rs 1.97 crore was seized from the passengers. All of them have been booked under Customs Act.
Among the 15 passengers was a 25-year-old woman, identified as Padma Balaji, who carried 660 grams of gold paste concealed inside Dairy Milk chocolate wrappers. The woman was intercepted at the exit of Anna International Terminal after her arrival from Dubai, and later the Customs officials found gold paste concealed in a chocolate wrapper under her underwear. The gold was valued for 28.7 lakh. She was arrested by the customs on Thursday.
The other passengers gold had concealed the gold inside their rectums. According to reports, they were travelling on different flights from Dubai and Sharjah.
Chennai Air Customs: 3.72 kg gold valued @Rs.1.97 Cr. seized under Custom Act from Dubai/Sharjah flts: 1)660 gm gold paste pkt concealed in chocolate wrapper by a lady pax. She was arrested.
2) 3.18 kg gold from 15 pax concealed in rectum recovered. pic.twitter.com/c1NCPd4naT— Chennai Customs (@ChennaiCustoms) January 7, 2021
On Wednesday, 11 passengers who arrived in Chennai from Dubai were intercepted and interrogated, after which Customs officials found 12 gold paste bundles, weighing 2.15 kg, inside their rectums. The gold was valued at Rs 1.14 crore. On the same day, three other passengers coming from Sharjah were caught with five bundles of gold paste, weighing 685 grams, which was valued at Rs 36.4 lakh. From a passenger coming from Dubai, two gold paste bundles, weighing 347 grams, valued at Rs 18.28 lakh, were seized at Chennai airport.
The Chennai Custom handled shared the information on their official Twitter handle. “3.72 kg gold valued @Rs.1.97 Cr. seized under Custom Act from Dubai/Sharjah flts: 1)660 gm gold paste pkt concealed in chocolate wrapper by a lady pax. She was arrested. 2) 3.18 kg gold from 15 pax concealed in rectum recovered (sic).”
Earlier this month, on January 2, Chennai customs officials had seized 937 grams of gold, worth 48.27 lakh. The gold paste was concealed inside the rectum of a passenger, as well as in underwear and in a handbag. One person was arrested. On January 3, 621 grams of gold worth Rs 31.87 lakh were seized from passengers who had arrived from Dubai. In total, around 4.83 kg gold was recovered and seized by the Chennai Customs in this month.
Source: The News Minute