BENGALURU: The airport customs have seized 3 kg drugs, worth Rs 15 lakh, and 1.54 kg gold, worth Rs 48.66 lakh, from the passengers over the past one week.
A passenger Kalsikattte Mohammad Sheikh, hailing from Mangaluru, and travelling to Doha, was caught at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) while trying to smuggle 3 kg of hashish.
Customs authorities grew suspicious during baggage scan and alerted the CISF personnel. The bag was subjected to a detailed examination, which revealed the presence of contraband drug concealed in an Insulating material. Sheikh was arrested and a case has been registered against him.
The airport customs also seized 1.54 kg of gold, worth Rs 48.66 lakh, in separate cases in the past one week.
On June 24, a passenger named Vijay Hanjarlmallain arrived at KIA from Bangkok via Bhubaneswar by Air India flight and was caught for smuggling gold.
During baggage check they found four pieces of gold bars, weighing 400 grams and valued at Rs 12.62 lakh, were recovered concealed in the hand bag.
In this case the modus operandi Involved trying to hand over the gold by the international passenger to another domestic passenger during the Bhubaneswar-Bengaluru flight.
In the second case, on June 25 a passenger named Husmi Mubarak Mohideen Nisar, who had arrived at KIA from Colombo, was caught smuggling gold.
A body search revealed that Nisar revealed that six pieces of gold, weighing 260.71 gm and valued at Rs 8.23 Iakh, were concealed in the passenger’s rectum.
In the third case, on June 26 four cases of gold smuggling, using different modus operandi, were registered.
In three cases the passengers had arrived from Dubai by the same flight and all three of them hailed from Kadappa in Andhra Pradesh.
A passenger named Shaik Abdul Munaf was caught while smuggling gold items weighing 290.64 grams and valued at Rs 9.18 Iakh, concealed in a hand bag.
The second passenger, Ismail Jabibula Shaik, was caught smuggling a gold anklet, weighing 175.50 grams, valued at Rs. 5.55 Iakh, concealed under the pants below the knee.
The third passenger named Shaik Hassan Basha was caught smuggling two gold biscuits weighing 233.28 grams, valued at Rs 7.37 Iakh, concealed in his inner pant pockets.
In the fourth case, a passenger named Bandula Vijeweera, who arrived at KIA from Colombo, was caught smuggling gold. During body search it was found that he had concealed gold, weighing 188.80 grams valued at Rs 5.71 Iakh, in his rectum.
