Chennai: Customs officers seized 3.4 kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 1.12 crore and arrested two persons at the city airport in two separate instances.
According to airport sources, in the first case, the officers had received information that an attempt would be made to smuggle gold on an Etihad flight arriving from Abu Dhabi. The officials searched the flight when it landed on Thursday night and found two bundles concealed under the cushion of one of the seats.
On opening the bundles, they found two gold bars, each weighing 1 kg, wrapped in black tape. The gold, valued at Rs 66 lakh, was seized under the Customs Act 1962 as unclaimed.
In the second case, two Indian women passengers, Mumtaz (39) and Shaista Khanum (45) of Delhi, who had arrived from Bangkok by an Indigo flight, were intercepted by the Air Intelligence Unit officers while they were leavint the arrival hall, on suspicion that they were carrying gold.
They were questioned but as they were evasive in their replies a personal search was carried out. Both were found to be carrying gold in the form of cylindrical rods, weighing 699 grams each, concealed in their rectum.
A total of 1.4 kg gold worth Rs 46 lakh was recovered from them and seized under the Customs Act 1962. The passengers were arrested and further investigation is in progress.
