Hyderabad: An air passenger who attempted to smuggle gold into the city was apprehended on Satu-rday by the Air Intelligence Unit sleuths of Hyderabad customs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.
AIU officers from the customs department on Saturday morning intercepted a passenger who had arrived from Abu Dhabi in an Etihad flight EY-274. Upon examination, officials found gold paste concealed in his undergarments and also his pants — he had concealed the gold paste in a piece of cloth and fastened it to his waist with black tape. The same was seized under the Customs Act, 1962.
During the course of the inspection, the AIU officials had to cut open his underwear to recover the concealed gold paste. “The passenger arrived at RGIA at 3 am on Saturday. He was carrying 1.5 kg of gold, valued at `49 crore, in paste form — some of which was concealed in his undergarments while the rest was taped around his waist. The passenger produced no documents whatsoever to prove the licit import of the gold and confessed that he was attempting to smuggle the same into the country,” an AIU official said.
