KOCHI: Customs sleuths at the Cochin International Airport on Sunday foiled yet another attempt to smuggle gold. They seized the yellow metal worth ₹52.55 lakh from two domestic passengers.
Officials said the passengers who were yet to be identified, had arrived here by an Air India flight from Mumbai. During inspection, the sleuths recovered as many as 15 pieces of cut gold bar pieces, weighing 1799.710 grams, from them.
The passengers attempted to exit the terminal through the green-channel and were apprehended on suspicion, officials said. “They [passengers] did not make any declarations about the gold and also replied in the negative when asked if they had gold in their possession. The attempt, however, came to light when one of the accused confessed to concealing as many as seven gold bars in his rectum,” they added.
During interrogation, the accused told officials that they had been accompanied by another person, and based on the input, the sleuths detained him. A follow-up probe is on to trace the other members of the group.
In several cases, gold has been found concealed inside the body of smugglers — primarily in the anal cavity — to avoid detection. The attempts, however, were foiled many a time as the authorities often received specific intelligence inputs about the carriers.
