Gold worth 5.46 crores seized at RGIA
Their search revealed seven long strips of gold tightly wrapped within a black adhesive tape and concealed inside hollow pipes under the seats.
Hyderabad: Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized gold bars weighing 14 kg, worth `5.46 crore from two persons at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad.
While one is said to be a national of South Korea, the other is from China.
Following a tip-off, DRI officials searched the area around seat numbers 31A and 32A of the Air India flight AI 952, which arrived from Dubai in the early hours of Thursday.
Their search revealed seven long strips of gold tightly wrapped within a black adhesive tape and concealed inside hollow pipes under the seats.
It is stated that the DRI questioned the passengers occupying these seats.
The two confessed to have smuggled the gold bars from Dubai before concealing them beneath their seats in the aircraft.
In all, there were 112 metal bars of 24-carat gold having a purity of 99.5 per cent and weighing around 14 kg. The market value of the seized items is said to be around `5.46 crore.
The South Korean and Chinese nationals have been arrested under the Customs Act, 1962. Investigation is underway.